On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 12:19:20 AM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
> On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 1:39:48 PM UTC-8, Lou Holtman wrote:
> > On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 10:31:04 PM UTC+1, Catrike Rider wrote:
> > > On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 12:27:06 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
> > > <lou.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 9:11:22?PM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
> > > >> More study has brought to me interesting information. During the 1918 bouts of Indian Flu that killed so many, this was at the time that aspirin was invented and became available.
> > > >>
> > > >> One of the things that aspirin does is that it causes a dramatic reduction in fever.
> > > >>
> > > >> At the same time another school of thought said that fever was the body's reaction to infection and should be encouraged rather than thwarted..
> > > >>
> > > >> So they would use hot baths and hot towels to raise body temperatures rather than lower them. The people that used this technique had almost NO Flu deaths while the others up to 60 or more percent.
> > > >>
> > > >> Modern medicine now knows that a fever of 39 degrees C (102 F) triggers a large burst of Interferon which causes an abrupt burst of several different anti-viral compounds to be released by the immune system.
> > > >>
> > > >> How does this have anything to do with bicycling? Well riding hard also causes the body to overheat much like the surge of a fever. So if you've ever noticed that cyclists usually don't get sick as much as sedentary people this may very well be the reason. And this also suggests that dressing in such a manner to keep your body temperature in a position so that it can get to and retain 39 degrees C while cycling is probably a good way of preventing viral diseases like the flu. It also appears that the partial immune response from taking vaccines reduce fevers below the trigger point and probably cause more harm than good. It is better to keep your immune system supercharged than to hope to use your immune system partial response due to vaccines to prevent the illness.
> > > >>
> > > >> Did you ever wonder why hard workers so rarely get sick? Perhaps we now have the reason.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Why does the body of a healthy person regulate the temperature to 37 degrees Celsius with extreme accuracy?
> > > >
> > > >Lou
> > > Nor everyone. I've always been at 97.. now with accurate
> > > thermometers, I' usually at 97.2.
> > Core temperature? Anyway you answered my question. There is a reason for that temperature and why it is kept constant. Tom suggest that it is maybe a good idea to raise that temperature to 39 degrees to prevent infections.. It is not. Overheating is a serious risk.
> >
> > Lou
> So you're exercising to the point of sweating is a serious risk? You seem to be courting with death.

No it is not. Sweating is one great way of the body to regulate the temperature of your body. It is getting dangerous when it not working for instance wit high ambient temperatures and high humidities: heat strokes are well known.

On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 15:25:44 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
<cyclintom@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 1:41:35?PM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
>> On 11/19/2023 3:13 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
>> > On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 12:28:04?PM UTC-8, Lou Holtman wrote:
>> >> On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 9:11:22?PM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
>> >>> More study has brought to me interesting information. During the 1918 bouts of Indian Flu that killed so many, this was at the time that aspirin was invented and became available.
>> >> Indian flu? We had the Spanish flu here around that time.
>> >>
>> >> Lou
>> > It was called the Spanish Flu but it originated in India.
>> Or Kansas but neither is provable.
>> --
>> Andrew Muzi
>> a...@yellowjersey.org
>> Open every day since 1 April, 1971
>
>Well, its a good suggestion since they dug up Indians of the lower caste that died BEFORE 1915 from unknown causes and the virus they discovered was the original strain of H1N1 that caused the pandemic. No one cared what caused the lower castes to die in India so it took a recent study to discover that.
>
>Now this doesn't guarantee that it came from India but the timing is close enough to answer questions.

The first documented case of "Spanish Flue" was in the Kansas, U.S.,
in March 1918. The first mention of "Spanish Flu" in Bombay, British
India, in June 1918.
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:33:35 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
<lou.holtman@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 12:19:20?AM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
>> On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 1:39:48?PM UTC-8, Lou Holtman wrote:
>> > On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 10:31:04?PM UTC+1, Catrike Rider wrote:
>> > > On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 12:27:06 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
>> > > <lou.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > > >On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 9:11:22?PM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
>> > > >> More study has brought to me interesting information. During the 1918 bouts of Indian Flu that killed so many, this was at the time that aspirin was invented and became available.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> One of the things that aspirin does is that it causes a dramatic reduction in fever.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> At the same time another school of thought said that fever was the body's reaction to infection and should be encouraged rather than thwarted.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> So they would use hot baths and hot towels to raise body temperatures rather than lower them. The people that used this technique had almost NO Flu deaths while the others up to 60 or more percent.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> Modern medicine now knows that a fever of 39 degrees C (102 F) triggers a large burst of Interferon which causes an abrupt burst of several different anti-viral compounds to be released by the immune system.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> How does this have anything to do with bicycling? Well riding hard also causes the body to overheat much like the surge of a fever. So if you've ever noticed that cyclists usually don't get sick as much as sedentary people this may very well be the reason. And this also suggests that dressing in such a manner to keep your body temperature in a position so that it can get to and retain 39 degrees C while cycling is probably a good way of preventing viral diseases like the flu. It also appears that the partial immune response from taking vaccines reduce fevers below the trigger point and probably cause more harm than good. It is better to keep your immune system supercharged than to hope to use your immune system partial response due to vaccines to prevent the illness.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> Did you ever wonder why hard workers so rarely get sick? Perhaps we now have the reason.
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > >Why does the body of a healthy person regulate the temperature to 37 degrees Celsius with extreme accuracy?
>> > > >
>> > > >Lou
>> > > Nor everyone. I've always been at 97.. now with accurate
>> > > thermometers, I' usually at 97.2.
>> > Core temperature? Anyway you answered my question. There is a reason for that temperature and why it is kept constant. Tom suggest that it is maybe a good idea to raise that temperature to 39 degrees to prevent infections. It is not. Overheating is a serious risk.
>> >
>> > Lou
>> So you're exercising to the point of sweating is a serious risk? You seem to be courting with death.
>
>No it is not. Sweating is one great way of the body to regulate the temperature of your body. It is getting dangerous when it not working for instance wit high ambient temperatures and high humidities: heat strokes are well known.

I ride in 90+ degree temperatures all summer long and as long as I
keep moving, sweat and related evaporative cooling is all I need. In
the heat, I limit my rest stops to just a minute or two in the shade,
and of course, I drink lots and lots of water and Gatorade. My Catrike
is equipped with 7 bottle cages, not counting the one I modified to
carry a gun. There are also places along most of rides where I can
refill them. There used to be more, but the "pandemic" nonsense put an
end to that.

On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 1:45:52 PM UTC+1, Catrike Rider wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:33:35 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
> <lou.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 12:19:20?AM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
> >> On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 1:39:48?PM UTC-8, Lou Holtman wrote:
> >> > On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 10:31:04?PM UTC+1, Catrike Rider wrote:
> >> > > On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 12:27:06 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
> >> > > <lou.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > > >On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 9:11:22?PM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
> >> > > >> More study has brought to me interesting information. During the 1918 bouts of Indian Flu that killed so many, this was at the time that aspirin was invented and became available.
> >> > > >>
> >> > > >> One of the things that aspirin does is that it causes a dramatic reduction in fever.
> >> > > >>
> >> > > >> At the same time another school of thought said that fever was the body's reaction to infection and should be encouraged rather than thwarted.
> >> > > >>
> >> > > >> So they would use hot baths and hot towels to raise body temperatures rather than lower them. The people that used this technique had almost NO Flu deaths while the others up to 60 or more percent.
> >> > > >>
> >> > > >> Modern medicine now knows that a fever of 39 degrees C (102 F) triggers a large burst of Interferon which causes an abrupt burst of several different anti-viral compounds to be released by the immune system.
> >> > > >>
> >> > > >> How does this have anything to do with bicycling? Well riding hard also causes the body to overheat much like the surge of a fever. So if you've ever noticed that cyclists usually don't get sick as much as sedentary people this may very well be the reason. And this also suggests that dressing in such a manner to keep your body temperature in a position so that it can get to and retain 39 degrees C while cycling is probably a good way of preventing viral diseases like the flu. It also appears that the partial immune response from taking vaccines reduce fevers below the trigger point and probably cause more harm than good. It is better to keep your immune system supercharged than to hope to use your immune system partial response due to vaccines to prevent the illness.
> >> > > >>
> >> > > >> Did you ever wonder why hard workers so rarely get sick? Perhaps we now have the reason.
> >> > > >
> >> > > >
> >> > > >Why does the body of a healthy person regulate the temperature to 37 degrees Celsius with extreme accuracy?
> >> > > >
> >> > > >Lou
> >> > > Nor everyone. I've always been at 97.. now with accurate
> >> > > thermometers, I' usually at 97.2.
> >> > Core temperature? Anyway you answered my question. There is a reason for that temperature and why it is kept constant. Tom suggest that it is maybe a good idea to raise that temperature to 39 degrees to prevent infections. It is not. Overheating is a serious risk.
> >> >
> >> > Lou
> >> So you're exercising to the point of sweating is a serious risk? You seem to be courting with death.
> >
> >No it is not. Sweating is one great way of the body to regulate the temperature of your body. It is getting dangerous when it not working for instance wit high ambient temperatures and high humidities: heat strokes are well known.
> I ride in 90+ degree temperatures all summer long and as long as I
> keep moving, sweat and related evaporative cooling is all I need. In
> the heat, I limit my rest stops to just a minute or two in the shade,
> and of course, I drink lots and lots of water and Gatorade. My Catrike
> is equipped with 7 bottle cages, not counting the one I modified to
> carry a gun. There are also places along most of rides where I can
> refill them. There used to be more, but the "pandemic" nonsense put an
> end to that.

Sweat has to evaporate to be effective. It works great in dry conditions and/or with enough airflow. Last summer we had a couple of days with temperatures of 34-35 C, 70% RH and almost no wind. During those days you have to be very careful. Luckily it is an exception here but I can image that Florida has a lot of those days. Not my cup of tea.

Lou

On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 12:46:30 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
wrote:

>On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 16:36:33 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
>wrote:

>>Here a graph of my daily BP since Aug 2, 2023:
>><http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/crud/BP-JeffL-2023-11-19.jpg>

>Resting heart rates aren't a constant. Even if you are flat on your
>back in a hospital. For example, a change in blood oxygen level will
>trigger a change in heart rate. Outside air temperature and humidity
>will also effect pulse rate.
>But your systolic 120 to 170 overnight, as it were, seems rather a
>lot.

Taking the BP and heart rate readings are not to see how I'm doing,
but rather to see if the BP lowering drugs are working as advertised.
I don't know exactly why my cardiologist wants me to do it that way,
but I try to follow instructions.

At this point, I've taken one major error (erratic BP machine) out of
the puzzle. I suspect that my dinner choices and timing have a big
effect. I'm not very consistent with what and when I eat dinner.
Trying to relax at the same time is not easy.

>What happens if you take the BP readings before taking the pills?

Good idea. I suggested this to my cardiologist a few years ago. I
don't recall his answer, but it was something like "don't bother".
Even so, it might be interesting. The problem for me is that I need
to "rest" for at least 15 minutes before taking the reading in order
to get a stable measurement. That's difficult enough for me with one
measurement per evening and probably impossible with two. Just
throwing a few logs into the wood burner would ruin the measurement.
I've already discovered that if I watch a boring video during my 15
min "rest", the BP is lower than if I watch an action movie.

>Of course I can't comment on your pills but certainly the pills I take
>effect my B.P. and pulse rate very quickly.

As I mentioned, that's the reason for the test. I'm measuring the
effects of the pills, not my physical condition.

I had a good demonstration of the effect of the pills. I had hiatal
hernia surgery in May 2023. An odd side effect of the recovery was
that my BP dropped to the point that I was tired and falling asleep at
odd time. The cardiologist recommended that I decrease my Norvasc
dose from 7.5 mg/day to 5.0 mg/day. That increased my BP to what you
see on the graph and eliminated the problem.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:33:35 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
<lou.holtman@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 12:19:20?AM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
>> So you're exercising to the point of sweating is a serious risk? You seem to be courting with death.
>
>No it is not. Sweating is one great way of the body to regulate the temperature of your body. It is getting dangerous when it not working for instance wit high ambient temperatures and high humidities: heat strokes are well known.

Agreed. When I was young and healthy, I would hardly ever sweat. Now,
sweat has become my primary indicator that it's time for me to slow
down or stop exercising.

In 2001, just before I was diagnosed with heart problems, I was
clearing debris out of a culvert when I suddenly experienced chest
pain accompanied by profuse sweating. I stopped for a while and
relaxed. The pains and sweating subsided. So, I started working
again, and the pain and sweating returned. This is not good.

The blood flow to my heart was seriously obstructed. The capillaries
normally radiate most of the excess heat from the body. When the
capillaries can't do that, the body tries to cool itself with
evaporative cooling, also known as sweating. Without adequate blood
flow, neither cooling method was effective. I had a triple bypass
operation about 10 days later.

However, the bypass didn't totally fix the blood flow problem. When I
exercise, I function fairly normally, up to a threshold. No chest
pain, but I do start to sweat profusely. That's my signal that it's
time to slow down or stop whatever I was doing. The profuse sweating
stops about 2 minutes after I stop exercising. I have several
recovery strategies which allow me to continue exercising after a
short (5 to 15 min) delay. I also carry a small bottle of
nitroglycerin pills should the chest pains return.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 05:31:00 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
<lou.holtman@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 1:45:52?PM UTC+1, Catrike Rider wrote:
>> On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:33:35 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
>> <lou.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> >On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 12:19:20?AM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
>> >> On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 1:39:48?PM UTC-8, Lou Holtman wrote:
>> >> > On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 10:31:04?PM UTC+1, Catrike Rider wrote:
>> >> > > On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 12:27:06 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
>> >> > > <lou.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> > > >On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 9:11:22?PM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
>> >> > > >> More study has brought to me interesting information. During the 1918 bouts of Indian Flu that killed so many, this was at the time that aspirin was invented and became available.
>> >> > > >>
>> >> > > >> One of the things that aspirin does is that it causes a dramatic reduction in fever.
>> >> > > >>
>> >> > > >> At the same time another school of thought said that fever was the body's reaction to infection and should be encouraged rather than thwarted.
>> >> > > >>
>> >> > > >> So they would use hot baths and hot towels to raise body temperatures rather than lower them. The people that used this technique had almost NO Flu deaths while the others up to 60 or more percent.
>> >> > > >>
>> >> > > >> Modern medicine now knows that a fever of 39 degrees C (102 F) triggers a large burst of Interferon which causes an abrupt burst of several different anti-viral compounds to be released by the immune system.
>> >> > > >>
>> >> > > >> How does this have anything to do with bicycling? Well riding hard also causes the body to overheat much like the surge of a fever. So if you've ever noticed that cyclists usually don't get sick as much as sedentary people this may very well be the reason. And this also suggests that dressing in such a manner to keep your body temperature in a position so that it can get to and retain 39 degrees C while cycling is probably a good way of preventing viral diseases like the flu. It also appears that the partial immune response from taking vaccines reduce fevers below the trigger point and probably cause more harm than good. It is better to keep your immune system supercharged than to hope to use your immune system partial response due to vaccines to prevent the illness.
>> >> > > >>
>> >> > > >> Did you ever wonder why hard workers so rarely get sick? Perhaps we now have the reason.
>> >> > > >
>> >> > > >
>> >> > > >Why does the body of a healthy person regulate the temperature to 37 degrees Celsius with extreme accuracy?
>> >> > > >
>> >> > > >Lou
>> >> > > Nor everyone. I've always been at 97.. now with accurate
>> >> > > thermometers, I' usually at 97.2.
>> >> > Core temperature? Anyway you answered my question. There is a reason for that temperature and why it is kept constant. Tom suggest that it is maybe a good idea to raise that temperature to 39 degrees to prevent infections. It is not. Overheating is a serious risk.
>> >> >
>> >> > Lou
>> >> So you're exercising to the point of sweating is a serious risk? You seem to be courting with death.
>> >
>> >No it is not. Sweating is one great way of the body to regulate the temperature of your body. It is getting dangerous when it not working for instance wit high ambient temperatures and high humidities: heat strokes are well known.
>> I ride in 90+ degree temperatures all summer long and as long as I
>> keep moving, sweat and related evaporative cooling is all I need. In
>> the heat, I limit my rest stops to just a minute or two in the shade,
>> and of course, I drink lots and lots of water and Gatorade. My Catrike
>> is equipped with 7 bottle cages, not counting the one I modified to
>> carry a gun. There are also places along most of rides where I can
>> refill them. There used to be more, but the "pandemic" nonsense put an
>> end to that.
>
>
>Sweat has to evaporate to be effective. It works great in dry conditions and/or with enough airflow. Last summer we had a couple of days with temperatures of 34-35 C, 70% RH and almost no wind. During those days you have to be very careful. Luckily it is an exception here but I can image that Florida has a lot of those days. Not my cup of tea.
>
>Lou

My riding generates a considerable wind. Sometimes I ride with a
tailwind which reduces my evaporative cooling, but then I don't have
to work as hard, either. Over the last 13 years I've been keeping
records, I've had dozens of rides where the temperature was over 90
degrees. But yes, I'm aware of the danger and I'm careful.

On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 09:29:41 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

>On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:33:35 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
><lou.holtman@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 12:19:20?AM UTC+1, Tom Kunich wrote:
>>> So you're exercising to the point of sweating is a serious risk? You seem to be courting with death.
>>
>>No it is not. Sweating is one great way of the body to regulate the temperature of your body. It is getting dangerous when it not working for instance wit high ambient temperatures and high humidities: heat strokes are well known.
>
>Agreed. When I was young and healthy, I would hardly ever sweat. Now,
>sweat has become my primary indicator that it's time for me to slow
>down or stop exercising.
>
>In 2001, just before I was diagnosed with heart problems, I was
>clearing debris out of a culvert when I suddenly experienced chest
>pain accompanied by profuse sweating. I stopped for a while and
>relaxed. The pains and sweating subsided. So, I started working
>again, and the pain and sweating returned. This is not good.
>
>The blood flow to my heart was seriously obstructed. The capillaries
>normally radiate most of the excess heat from the body. When the
>capillaries can't do that, the body tries to cool itself with
>evaporative cooling, also known as sweating. Without adequate blood
>flow, neither cooling method was effective. I had a triple bypass
>operation about 10 days later.
>
>However, the bypass didn't totally fix the blood flow problem. When I
>exercise, I function fairly normally, up to a threshold. No chest
>pain, but I do start to sweat profusely. That's my signal that it's
>time to slow down or stop whatever I was doing. The profuse sweating
>stops about 2 minutes after I stop exercising. I have several
>recovery strategies which allow me to continue exercising after a
>short (5 to 15 min) delay. I also carry a small bottle of
>nitroglycerin pills should the chest pains return.

I was raised on a farm in Illinois. My body learned how to swea at a
very early age.

On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 2:11:22 PM UTC-6, Tom Kunich wrote:
> More study has brought to me interesting information. During the 1918 bouts of Indian Flu that killed so many, this was at the time that aspirin was invented and became available.
>
> One of the things that aspirin does is that it causes a dramatic reduction in fever.
>
> At the same time another school of thought said that fever was the body's reaction to infection and should be encouraged rather than thwarted.
>
> So they would use hot baths and hot towels to raise body temperatures rather than lower them. The people that used this technique had almost NO Flu deaths while the others up to 60 or more percent.
>
> Modern medicine now knows that a fever of 39 degrees C (102 F) triggers a large burst of Interferon which causes an abrupt burst of several different anti-viral compounds to be released by the immune system.
>
> How does this have anything to do with bicycling? Well riding hard also causes the body to overheat much like the surge of a fever. So if you've ever noticed that cyclists usually don't get sick as much as sedentary people this may very well be the reason. And this also suggests that dressing in such a manner to keep your body temperature in a position so that it can get to and retain 39 degrees C while cycling is probably a good way of preventing viral diseases like the flu. It also appears that the partial immune response from taking vaccines reduce fevers below the trigger point and probably cause more harm than good. It is better to keep your immune system supercharged than to hope to use your immune system partial response due to vaccines to prevent the illness.
>
> Did you ever wonder why hard workers so rarely get sick? Perhaps we now have the reason.

First cases in Fort Riley in 1917.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK278935/
Rickets from lack of Vitamin D became common during industrial revolution, especially in rainy and or smoky locations, Cod liver oil is known to treat..

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2759054/
2009 study shows Vitamin D fights rickets (10+ ng/ml) and respiratory illnesses (30+ ng/ml) such as Tuberculosis (TB (exposure to sunlight for over 100 years)), Influenza (flu), common cold (cold), Cystic Fibrosis (CF), Respiratory Inflammation (COPD, Asthma). Lack of Vitamin D in a lung infection allows a Cytokine Storm to take place, which produces fluid in the lungs. This was observed in the 1918 flu and Covid 2019.

https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/49/9/1405/301441?login=false
Aspirin was first created in 1853. Due to the U.S. declaring war on Germany, the Aspirin patent was taken and cheap generics became available. MDs gave enough aspirin to control fever. Not until much later was Aspirin dosage levels tested, and it was discovered the 1918 dosages were severe overdose producing fluid in the lungs

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5915735/
Another side effect of the reduced body temperatures is reduced levels of interferon in the body.

https://www.mphonline.org/worst-pandemics-in-history/
FLU PANDEMIC (1889-1890) Death Toll: 1 million
FLU PANDEMIC (1918) Death Toll: 20 -50 million
FLU PANDEMIC(1956-1958) Death Toll: 2 million
FLU PANDEMIC (1968) Death Toll: 1 million
Several flu outbreaks since with lower fatalities.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2665033/
Recognition of Vitamin D in 1919 and efforts to fortify foods.

My personal conclusions:
Industrialization in the late 1800s had reduced Vitamin D levels leading to increased susceptibility to Rickets, TB, and Flu. Aspirin became available at this same time too, temperature lowering reduced interferon levels. 1918 flu had lots of really cheap Aspirin given to patients. 1960s testing of of aspirin for proper doses and side effects of overdoses reduced consumption. Early 1970s advice to not give children Aspirin to prevent Reye Syndrome https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/reye.html was expanded by the public to avoid fever reducing medications for anyone, resulting in the fatality dropoff in the 1976 swine flu.

On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 09:06:05 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

>On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 12:46:30 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 16:36:33 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
>>wrote:
>
>>>Here a graph of my daily BP since Aug 2, 2023:
>>><http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/crud/BP-JeffL-2023-11-19.jpg>
>
>>Resting heart rates aren't a constant. Even if you are flat on your
>>back in a hospital. For example, a change in blood oxygen level will
>>trigger a change in heart rate. Outside air temperature and humidity
>>will also effect pulse rate.
>>But your systolic 120 to 170 overnight, as it were, seems rather a
>>lot.
>
>Taking the BP and heart rate readings are not to see how I'm doing,
>but rather to see if the BP lowering drugs are working as advertised.
>I don't know exactly why my cardiologist wants me to do it that way,
>but I try to follow instructions.
>
>At this point, I've taken one major error (erratic BP machine) out of
>the puzzle. I suspect that my dinner choices and timing have a big
>effect. I'm not very consistent with what and when I eat dinner.
>Trying to relax at the same time is not easy.
>>What happens if you take the BP readings before taking the pills?
>
>Good idea. I suggested this to my cardiologist a few years ago. I
>don't recall his answer, but it was something like "don't bother".
>Even so, it might be interesting. The problem for me is that I need
>to "rest" for at least 15 minutes before taking the reading in order
>to get a stable measurement. That's difficult enough for me with one
>measurement per evening and probably impossible with two. Just
>throwing a few logs into the wood burner would ruin the measurement.
>I've already discovered that if I watch a boring video during my 15
>min "rest", the BP is lower than if I watch an action movie.
>

I'm not entering an argument, but for me, at least, 15 minutes is not
sufficient rest for my BP to reach it lowest point level. Try reading
for 30 minutes before taking a reading, for a week, and see what the
results. As my blood oxygen goes up and down depending on my activity
(bad lungs) I use a pulse-oximeter and before taking a BP reading I
check that my pulse has bottomed out at about 60 BPM ( I have a
pacemaker and that is the low speed setting). BP and pulse from the
16th through the 20th was 127/62 61//119/62 61//125/66 60//127/65
61//127/65 61. Taken in the morning before Meds.
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 08:22:41 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
wrote:

>I'm not entering an argument, but for me, at least, 15 minutes is not
>sufficient rest for my BP to reach it lowest point level. Try reading
>for 30 minutes before taking a reading, for a week, and see what the
>results. As my blood oxygen goes up and down depending on my activity
>(bad lungs) I use a pulse-oximeter and before taking a BP reading I
>check that my pulse has bottomed out at about 60 BPM ( I have a
>pacemaker and that is the low speed setting). BP and pulse from the
>16th through the 20th was 127/62 61//119/62 61//125/66 60//127/65
>61//127/65 61. Taken in the morning before Meds.

Using a pulse oximeter in this manner is problematic for me. I have
heart palpitations (arrhythmia). I have three pulse-oximeters and two
BP machines to measure heart rate. Only one of the pulse oximeters
will produce a reasonable heart rate reading. The other two either
produce no reading or generate error messages. Both my BP machines
will produce reasonable readings, but I haven't tested the one I
aquired last week. I asked what I should do about the palpitations
and received a "don't worry about it" answer.

I'll try a longer rest period, but for me, it's difficult to produce a
repeatable routine for accurate BP/pulse measurement. It's also
difficult for me to sit still for 30 minutes. I'm always
multitasking.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:27:11 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

>On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 08:22:41 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>>I'm not entering an argument, but for me, at least, 15 minutes is not
>>sufficient rest for my BP to reach it lowest point level. Try reading
>>for 30 minutes before taking a reading, for a week, and see what the
>>results. As my blood oxygen goes up and down depending on my activity
>>(bad lungs) I use a pulse-oximeter and before taking a BP reading I
>>check that my pulse has bottomed out at about 60 BPM ( I have a
>>pacemaker and that is the low speed setting). BP and pulse from the
>>16th through the 20th was 127/62 61//119/62 61//125/66 60//127/65
>>61//127/65 61. Taken in the morning before Meds.
>
>Using a pulse oximeter in this manner is problematic for me. I have
>heart palpitations (arrhythmia). I have three pulse-oximeters and two
>BP machines to measure heart rate. Only one of the pulse oximeters
>will produce a reasonable heart rate reading. The other two either
>produce no reading or generate error messages. Both my BP machines
>will produce reasonable readings, but I haven't tested the one I
>aquired last week. I asked what I should do about the palpitations
>and received a "don't worry about it" answer.
>
>I'll try a longer rest period, but for me, it's difficult to produce a
>repeatable routine for accurate BP/pulse measurement. It's also
>difficult for me to sit still for 30 minutes. I'm always
>multitasking.

Out of curiosity did anyone suggest a pacemaker for your arrhythmia.

--
Cheers,

John B.

On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 10:38:34 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
wrote:

>On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:27:11 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
>wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 08:22:41 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>I'm not entering an argument, but for me, at least, 15 minutes is not
>>>sufficient rest for my BP to reach it lowest point level. Try reading
>>>for 30 minutes before taking a reading, for a week, and see what the
>>>results. As my blood oxygen goes up and down depending on my activity
>>>(bad lungs) I use a pulse-oximeter and before taking a BP reading I
>>>check that my pulse has bottomed out at about 60 BPM ( I have a
>>>pacemaker and that is the low speed setting). BP and pulse from the
>>>16th through the 20th was 127/62 61//119/62 61//125/66 60//127/65
>>>61//127/65 61. Taken in the morning before Meds.
>>
>>Using a pulse oximeter in this manner is problematic for me. I have
>>heart palpitations (arrhythmia). I have three pulse-oximeters and two
>>BP machines to measure heart rate. Only one of the pulse oximeters
>>will produce a reasonable heart rate reading. The other two either
>>produce no reading or generate error messages. Both my BP machines
>>will produce reasonable readings, but I haven't tested the one I
>>aquired last week. I asked what I should do about the palpitations
>>and received a "don't worry about it" answer.
>>
>>I'll try a longer rest period, but for me, it's difficult to produce a
>>repeatable routine for accurate BP/pulse measurement. It's also
>>difficult for me to sit still for 30 minutes. I'm always
>>multitasking.

>Out of curiosity did anyone suggest a pacemaker for your arrhythmia.

Yes. Several of my friends suggested I ask my cardiologist about it.
When I asked, he said that I wasn't showing enough symptoms to justify
a pacemaker. By symptoms, he was looking for a long lasting erratic
heart beat or a slowing of the heart rate (not an occasional missing
heartbeat).

In my case, it's not the heart that's the problem. It's the arteries
clogged with plaque restricting the blood flow that are causing a
problem. I had 2 stents installed in 2016, which were a big help.
Forcing the heart to pump harder isn't going to do anything useful.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:07:05 -0800 (PST), Mike A Schwab
<mike.a.schwab@gmail.com> wrote:

>https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/nitroglycerin-oral-route-sublingual-route/description/drg-20072863#:~:text=It%20works%20by%20relaxing%20the,prevent%20angina%20attacks%20from%20occurring.
>
>Can be used to prevent chest pain too.
>Works by relaxing blood vessels increasing blood flow.

Thanks, but I already have an emergency supply of nitroglycerine
(Nitrostat 0.4mg). Nitroglycerin is not a long term chronic solution
or a treatment. It's for dealing with short term acute blood flow
problems. For long term vasodilator, I take Imdur (Isosorbide
Mononitrate 30 mg) daily.

Before I had 2 stents installed in 2016, I would get occasional angina
pains. The pains tended to be more frequent when I was relaxed than
when I was exercising. One pill under the tongue stopped the pain
almost instantly. However, after about 15 minutes, the pain would
sometimes return. After the 2nd pill, the pain was gone, for as long
as I remained relaxed. When the frequency of chest pains increased,
it was time to get the stents installed.

Since then, I've only needed to take nitro about 7 times. All the
chest pains were quite mild. The easy way to tell if they were
related to clogged arteries was to take a nitro pill. If the pain
followed the previous pattern, then I had a heart related problem. If
the pill did nothing, it wasn't a heart related problem.

Also, the pills last longer than the recommended 3 to 5 months after
opening the bottle. My guess is 2 years and maybe longer. I've
tested some very old pills and they still were effective.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:59:12 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

>On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 10:38:34 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:27:11 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 08:22:41 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>>I'm not entering an argument, but for me, at least, 15 minutes is not
>>>>sufficient rest for my BP to reach it lowest point level. Try reading
>>>>for 30 minutes before taking a reading, for a week, and see what the
>>>>results. As my blood oxygen goes up and down depending on my activity
>>>>(bad lungs) I use a pulse-oximeter and before taking a BP reading I
>>>>check that my pulse has bottomed out at about 60 BPM ( I have a
>>>>pacemaker and that is the low speed setting). BP and pulse from the
>>>>16th through the 20th was 127/62 61//119/62 61//125/66 60//127/65
>>>>61//127/65 61. Taken in the morning before Meds.
>>>
>>>Using a pulse oximeter in this manner is problematic for me. I have
>>>heart palpitations (arrhythmia). I have three pulse-oximeters and two
>>>BP machines to measure heart rate. Only one of the pulse oximeters
>>>will produce a reasonable heart rate reading. The other two either
>>>produce no reading or generate error messages. Both my BP machines
>>>will produce reasonable readings, but I haven't tested the one I
>>>aquired last week. I asked what I should do about the palpitations
>>>and received a "don't worry about it" answer.
>>>
>>>I'll try a longer rest period, but for me, it's difficult to produce a
>>>repeatable routine for accurate BP/pulse measurement. It's also
>>>difficult for me to sit still for 30 minutes. I'm always
>>>multitasking.
>
>>Out of curiosity did anyone suggest a pacemaker for your arrhythmia.
>
>Yes. Several of my friends suggested I ask my cardiologist about it.
>When I asked, he said that I wasn't showing enough symptoms to justify
>a pacemaker. By symptoms, he was looking for a long lasting erratic
>heart beat or a slowing of the heart rate (not an occasional missing
>heartbeat).
>
>In my case, it's not the heart that's the problem. It's the arteries
>clogged with plaque restricting the blood flow that are causing a
>problem. I had 2 stents installed in 2016, which were a big help.
>Forcing the heart to pump harder isn't going to do anything useful.

Out of curiosity I looked at the Internet to see what a pacemaker in
the U.S. would cost. They are appallingly expensive, as much as
$100,000 , but even worst I noticed the estimated cost of an overnight
stay in the hospital - $25,000. And, the quarterly pacemaker checkup
is $200...
https://www.medicareinsuranceaz.com/how-much-will-a-pacemaker-cost-without-medicare

It is almost unbelievably. I just had my quarterly pacemaker check and
it cost 200 baht - US$5.55, and that is for a non citizen. If a Thai
citizen it would have been 30 baht - $0.83.
I read that the current minimum wage in California is currently
$15.50/hour. Chicken feed compared to hospital costs.

--
Cheers,

John B.

Am 21.11.2023 um 00:48 schrieb Tom Kunich:
> On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 11:51:44 AM UTC-8, Lou Holtman
> wrote:
>> On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 8:00:25 PM UTC+1, Tom Kunich
>> wrote:
>>> On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 5:31:03 AM UTC-8, Lou Holtman
>>> wrote:
>>>> On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 1:45:52 PM UTC+1, Catrike Rider
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:33:35 -0800 (PST), Lou Holtman
>>>>> <lou.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 12:19:20?AM UTC+1, Tom
>>>>>> Kunich wrote:
>>>>>>> On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 1:39:48?PM UTC-8, Lou
>>>>>>> Holtman wrote:
>>>>>>>> On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 10:31:04?PM UTC+1,
>>>>>>>> Catrike Rider wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 12:27:06 -0800 (PST), Lou
>>>>>>>>> Holtman <lou.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 9:11:22?PM UTC+1,
>>>>>>>>>> Tom Kunich wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> More study has brought to me interesting
>>>>>>>>>>> information. During the 1918 bouts of Indian Flu
>>>>>>>>>>> that killed so many, this was at the time that
>>>>>>>>>>> aspirin was invented and became available.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> One of the things that aspirin does is that it
>>>>>>>>>>> causes a dramatic reduction in fever.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> At the same time another school of thought said
>>>>>>>>>>> that fever was the body's reaction to infection
>>>>>>>>>>> and should be encouraged rather than thwarted.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> So they would use hot baths and hot towels to
>>>>>>>>>>> raise body temperatures rather than lower them.
>>>>>>>>>>> The people that used this technique had almost NO
>>>>>>>>>>> Flu deaths while the others up to 60 or more
>>>>>>>>>>> percent.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Modern medicine now knows that a fever of 39
>>>>>>>>>>> degrees C (102 F) triggers a large burst of
>>>>>>>>>>> Interferon which causes an abrupt burst of
>>>>>>>>>>> several different anti-viral compounds to be
>>>>>>>>>>> released by the immune system.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> How does this have anything to do with bicycling?
>>>>>>>>>>> Well riding hard also causes the body to overheat
>>>>>>>>>>> much like the surge of a fever. So if you've ever
>>>>>>>>>>> noticed that cyclists usually don't get sick as
>>>>>>>>>>> much as sedentary people this may very well be
>>>>>>>>>>> the reason. And this also suggests that dressing
>>>>>>>>>>> in such a manner to keep your body temperature in
>>>>>>>>>>> a position so that it can get to and retain 39
>>>>>>>>>>> degrees C while cycling is probably a good way of
>>>>>>>>>>> preventing viral diseases like the flu. It also
>>>>>>>>>>> appears that the partial immune response from
>>>>>>>>>>> taking vaccines reduce fevers below the trigger
>>>>>>>>>>> point and probably cause more harm than good. It
>>>>>>>>>>> is better to keep your immune system supercharged
>>>>>>>>>>> than to hope to use your immune system partial
>>>>>>>>>>> response due to vaccines to prevent the illness.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Did you ever wonder why hard workers so rarely
>>>>>>>>>>> get sick? Perhaps we now have the reason.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Why does the body of a healthy person regulate the
>>>>>>>>>> temperature to 37 degrees Celsius with extreme
>>>>>>>>>> accuracy?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Lou
>>>>>>>>> Nor everyone. I've always been at 97.. now with
>>>>>>>>> accurate thermometers, I' usually at 97.2.
>>>>>>>> Core temperature? Anyway you answered my question.
>>>>>>>> There is a reason for that temperature and why it is
>>>>>>>> kept constant. Tom suggest that it is maybe a good idea
>>>>>>>> to raise that temperature to 39 degrees to prevent
>>>>>>>> infections. It is not. Overheating is a serious risk.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Lou
>>>>>>> So you're exercising to the point of sweating is a
>>>>>>> serious risk? You seem to be courting with death.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> No it is not. Sweating is one great way of the body to
>>>>>> regulate the temperature of your body. It is getting
>>>>>> dangerous when it not working for instance wit high ambient
>>>>>> temperatures and high humidities: heat strokes are well
>>>>>> known.
>>>>> I ride in 90+ degree temperatures all summer long and as long
>>>>> as I keep moving, sweat and related evaporative cooling is
>>>>> all I need. In the heat, I limit my rest stops to just a
>>>>> minute or two in the shade, and of course, I drink lots and
>>>>> lots of water and Gatorade. My Catrike is equipped with 7
>>>>> bottle cages, not counting the one I modified to carry a gun.
>>>>> There are also places along most of rides where I can refill
>>>>> them. There used to be more, but the "pandemic" nonsense put
>>>>> an end to that.
>>>> Sweat has to evaporate to be effective. It works great in dry
>>>> conditions and/or with enough airflow. Last summer we had a
>>>> couple of days with temperatures of 34-35 C, 70% RH and almost
>>>> no wind. During those days you have to be very careful. Luckily
>>>> it is an exception here but I can image that Florida has a lot
>>>> of those days. Not my cup of tea.
>>>>
>>>> Lou
>>> Lou, I have spent the majority of my career working in medical
>>> science
>> What does that mean? You claim a lot but all not verifiable. No
>> publication or patents nothing. Not important to me, I don’t care
>>> and you're speaking grade school medicine without knowing much
>>> about what is really occurring.
>> What is wrong what I said about sweating?
>>>
>>> Here is a video that at least gets if pretty correct:
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRkxH56LqCo&t=1478s
>> Pff another obscure youtube doctor.
>
> That wasn't meant to be rude Lou. Sweating occurs BECAUSE your body
> is overheating and not to prevent it from overheating. One follows
> the other and not before.

Do you understand what a regulation circuit is? Sweating occurs when
the muscles generate more heat than the body core needs.

On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 9:59:26 PM UTC-6, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
[deleted]
>
> Yes. Several of my friends suggested I ask my cardiologist about it.
> When I asked, he said that I wasn't showing enough symptoms to justify
> a pacemaker. By symptoms, he was looking for a long lasting erratic
> heart beat or a slowing of the heart rate (not an occasional missing
> heartbeat).
>
> In my case, it's not the heart that's the problem. It's the arteries
> clogged with plaque restricting the blood flow that are causing a
> problem. I had 2 stents installed in 2016, which were a big help.
> Forcing the heart to pump harder isn't going to do anything useful.
> --
> Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
> PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

I would unplug those arteries with a diet.
Wheat Belly (keto / paleo).

Start Vitamin D3 (1,000 age 1-5, 2,500 age 6-19, 5,000 age 20-49, 10,000 age 50+) I.U., K2 if available, Magnesium 1 pill, all with breakfast, for life. Everyone is low on these. A few people have misread directions with liquid Vitamin D3, instead of taking 2 or 3 drops (5,000 I.U. each drop) a day, taking the whole dropper full every day. They experienced some minor toxic effects until they reduced dosage.
We used to get Iodine from Iodized salt, but now its low salt or sea / Himalayan salt without. Only a very small percent of people have a salt sensitive blood pressure. Seaweed salad or supplement most people need.

If you get faint when you don't eat carbs for a long time this could be hypoglycemia which can develop into diabetic ketoacidosis, without dosing with glucose can be fatal. This is caused by your fat (ketone) metabolism in your mitochondria is not working. Treatment is with small doses of dietary ketones to exercise this metabolism. One bottle of liquid coconut oil (little taste) (US$10) from cooking oil section. One teaspoon / 5 ml a day for a week, in salad dressing, or food, or drink. Then one tablespoon / 15 ml a day until bottle is finish. Might repeat with MCT oil from a vitamin section.

Week 1: Reduce grains especially wheat. No sugared drinks. If you bake at home Wheat Belly All Purpose Flour can be mixed or bought for cooking or baking.
Week 2: Eliminate the grain, limit potatoes to thick slices so almost raw for good gut bacteria.
Week 3: Reduce carbs from other vegetables. This is where you can really start to get Keto flu / hypoglycemia / diabetic ketoacidosis. After a long time without citrus fruits you can develop scurvy from low Vitamin C.
Final goal: Protein 16-20% calories. Less can be a protein deficit, more can lead to kidney damage (a problem with Atkins), or excess is used like glucose. Carbs 5% of calories. Fats 75% or calories.

https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2015/09/the-wheat-belly-lifestyle-began-with-heart-health/

The Wheat Belly lifestyle BEGAN with heart health
by Dr. Davis | Sep 15, 2015 | Diet and Lifestyle | 22 comments

Debbie posted this comment on the Wheat Belly Facebook page:

“I posted a few weeks back about our scare from our primary care doctor. My husband had a calcium score of 1200. We panicked! Messaged Dr. Davis and went the next day to a cardio doctor and had a stress test, ultrasound, and blood test (inflammatory markers). Got him on recommended supplements per Dr Davis.

“Latest update: Cardio doctor says, being as you started ‘Wheat Belly’ back in October, 2014, your score could have been higher and already started to improve, we don’t know. What we DO know is, because of this new way of eating, all other tests are NORMAL! Sugar A1C from 8.3 to 6.0, cholesterol way down, blood pressure down, etc, etc all down. Cardio doctor was AMAZED! Continue this diet, supplements and come visit again in 6 months or so!

“Without Wheat Belly, my husband was heading for a major heart attack. I have also found the cause of my own health problems. I started Wheat Belly 3/2014. I am down 78 lbs, no longer pre-diabetic and my symptoms are gone from muscle pain, headaches, chronic itching, bloating, digestive issues, etc., etc. THANK-YOU.”

What a terrific encapsulation of the entire Wheat Belly experience. I didn’t develop the concepts in Wheat Belly by one day just deciding to pick on wheat. These ideas were developed over years of working and researching ways to give people better control over health, but specifically heart health, as I became increasingly disenchanted with conventional notions of heart disease prevention. And it happened on the background of calcium scores of the sort that Debbie’s husband had. So let me tell you how it all happened.

I was practicing interventional cardiology in Cleveland, Ohio, at an academic medical center where I was director of the catheterization laboratory and the cardiology training fellowship. It was an age in which new devices, new procedures, and new techniques were being introduced at a rapid clip. A former trainee of mine asked me to join him in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I told him: “No way! It’s too darned cold up there!” Nonetheless, I visited him and liked the town, the hospitals, the staff I met, the neighborhoods. Despite my initial misgivings, I moved to suburban Milwaukee to join him. I practiced out of several hospitals, doing much the same: day-to-night angioplasties, implanting stents, dealing with heart attacks and other cardiac emergencies, continuing to introduce new techniques.

Then my mother died of sudden cardiac death just two months after having undergone successful two vessel angioplasty at a New Jersey hospital near my hometown. This hit me like a ton of bricks: the disease I dealt with every day, 7 days a week, was the same disease that killed my mom.

But this event drove home to me that focusing on acute procedural care allows many people to die or experience other dangerous events before they can even get to the hospital. I began to look for methods to identify heart disease before such events took place. And I mean real methods, markers that, for instance, predicted the future in ways such as “heart attack within three years highly likely.” Symptoms? I was looking for markers in people without symptoms. Cholesterol? Don’t make me laugh. High blood pressure, family history, etc.–all were “soft” markers that didn’t have real power, didn’t tell you the “when” or “how much.” About that time a new device had come on the market, a type of CT scanner called an electron beam tomography device, or EBT, that was very fast, able to take an image of the heart in one tenth of one second, rather than the two seconds of conventional CT devices. The heart is a moving object and therefore very difficult to image in detail, but this device could do it. Then colleague and now friend Dr. John Rumberger at the Mayo Clinic did something extraordinary: he used this EBT device to image the coronary (heart) arteries of hearts from people who had died in car accidents and other means. He discovered that calcium–an easy component of atherosclerotic plaque to image–occupied 20% of the total volume of the atherosclerotic plaque that lined arteries. In other words, measuring calcium in the arteries provided a gauge, a dipstick, for the amount of total atherosclerotic plaque in the 3 coronary arteries. Early scientific publications validated the fact that the “calcium score”–zero for none, increasing values for greater quantities of calcium–was the most powerful predictor for future heart attack and death from heart disease ever developed.

I put together some investors in Milwaukee to bring an EBT device here. (I was never an investor, just the medical adviser.) No hospital showed interest, as they saw it as a tool for prevention, not for increasing procedural revenue. Thus Milwaukee Heart Scan was born and we began to image the hearts of hundreds, then thousands of people. But it created a dilemma: a businessman, say, would have his heart scan, obtain a score of 500 (quite high), then ask “What the heck do I do about it?” Because this was about 18 years ago, we’d tell them what I now understand is nonsense: cut your fat, take Lipitor, and exercise. The businessman would come back in a year for another scan: score of 670–much higher. Now he’s freaking out: “What now?! Do I need heart catheterization or bypass surgery?” (Recall that these people were without symptoms, often exercising, and usually proved to have normal stress tests. Regardless, an unintended problem also arose: unscrupulous cardiologists who put such people through unnecessary heart procedures. This was something I did battle with back then, but nonetheless witnessed hundreds of people go through heart procedures without real reason.) We’d tell them “cut your fat further, take a higher dose of Lipitor, etc.” The businessman would return in another year or so, another scan: score 880. It became clear by our experience, as well as the published experience that we contributed to, that the calcium score increased at a rate of 25-30% per year and that tools such as statin drugs had very little effect in stopping this terrifying progression. We were therefore left without any real tools to deal with this problem, while all around me nice people were freaking out as they watched their coronary atherosclerotic plaque grow.

So I set out to discover ways to put this to a stop. After all, we now had a tool, the EBT* device, that allowed us to track progression–or regression–of coronary disease. Little by little, step by step, we worked on new ways to slow or stop the process. I added advanced lipoprotein analysis, such as NMR lipoprotein testing, to better decipher the details in the fat-carrying particles in the bloodstream. I folded in new insights into such factors as vitamin D. Over many years, I learned several critical lessons:

On 11/21/2023 1:34 PM, Mike A Schwab wrote:
> On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 9:59:26 PM UTC-6, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> [deleted]
>>
>> Yes. Several of my friends suggested I ask my cardiologist about it.
>> When I asked, he said that I wasn't showing enough symptoms to justify
>> a pacemaker. By symptoms, he was looking for a long lasting erratic
>> heart beat or a slowing of the heart rate (not an occasional missing
>> heartbeat).
>>
>> In my case, it's not the heart that's the problem. It's the arteries
>> clogged with plaque restricting the blood flow that are causing a
>> problem. I had 2 stents installed in 2016, which were a big help.
>> Forcing the heart to pump harder isn't going to do anything useful.
>> --
>> Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
>> PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
>> Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
>> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
>
> I would unplug those arteries with a diet.
> Wheat Belly (keto / paleo).
>
> Start Vitamin D3 (1,000 age 1-5, 2,500 age 6-19, 5,000 age 20-49, 10,000 age 50+) I.U., K2 if available, Magnesium 1 pill, all with breakfast, for life. Everyone is low on these. A few people have misread directions with liquid Vitamin D3, instead of taking 2 or 3 drops (5,000 I.U. each drop) a day, taking the whole dropper full every day. They experienced some minor toxic effects until they reduced dosage.
> We used to get Iodine from Iodized salt, but now its low salt or sea / Himalayan salt without. Only a very small percent of people have a salt sensitive blood pressure. Seaweed salad or supplement most people need.
>
> If you get faint when you don't eat carbs for a long time this could be hypoglycemia which can develop into diabetic ketoacidosis, without dosing with glucose can be fatal. This is caused by your fat (ketone) metabolism in your mitochondria is not working. Treatment is with small doses of dietary ketones to exercise this metabolism. One bottle of liquid coconut oil (little taste) (US$10) from cooking oil section. One teaspoon / 5 ml a day for a week, in salad dressing, or food, or drink. Then one tablespoon / 15 ml a day until bottle is finish. Might repeat with MCT oil from a vitamin section.
>
> Week 1: Reduce grains especially wheat. No sugared drinks. If you bake at home Wheat Belly All Purpose Flour can be mixed or bought for cooking or baking.
> Week 2: Eliminate the grain, limit potatoes to thick slices so almost raw for good gut bacteria.
> Week 3: Reduce carbs from other vegetables. This is where you can really start to get Keto flu / hypoglycemia / diabetic ketoacidosis. After a long time without citrus fruits you can develop scurvy from low Vitamin C.
> Final goal: Protein 16-20% calories. Less can be a protein deficit, more can lead to kidney damage (a problem with Atkins), or excess is used like glucose. Carbs 5% of calories. Fats 75% or calories.
>
>
> https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2015/09/the-wheat-belly-lifestyle-began-with-heart-health/
>
> The Wheat Belly lifestyle BEGAN with heart health
> by Dr. Davis | Sep 15, 2015 | Diet and Lifestyle | 22 comments
>
> Debbie posted this comment on the Wheat Belly Facebook page:
>
> “I posted a few weeks back about our scare from our primary care doctor. My husband had a calcium score of 1200. We panicked! Messaged Dr. Davis and went the next day to a cardio doctor and had a stress test, ultrasound, and blood test (inflammatory markers). Got him on recommended supplements per Dr Davis.
>
> “Latest update: Cardio doctor says, being as you started ‘Wheat Belly’ back in October, 2014, your score could have been higher and already started to improve, we don’t know. What we DO know is, because of this new way of eating, all other tests are NORMAL! Sugar A1C from 8.3 to 6.0, cholesterol way down, blood pressure down, etc, etc all down. Cardio doctor was AMAZED! Continue this diet, supplements and come visit again in 6 months or so!
>
> “Without Wheat Belly, my husband was heading for a major heart attack. I have also found the cause of my own health problems. I started Wheat Belly 3/2014. I am down 78 lbs, no longer pre-diabetic and my symptoms are gone from muscle pain, headaches, chronic itching, bloating, digestive issues, etc., etc. THANK-YOU.”
>
> What a terrific encapsulation of the entire Wheat Belly experience. I didn’t develop the concepts in Wheat Belly by one day just deciding to pick on wheat. These ideas were developed over years of working and researching ways to give people better control over health, but specifically heart health, as I became increasingly disenchanted with conventional notions of heart disease prevention. And it happened on the background of calcium scores of the sort that Debbie’s husband had. So let me tell you how it all happened.
>
> I was practicing interventional cardiology in Cleveland, Ohio, at an academic medical center where I was director of the catheterization laboratory and the cardiology training fellowship. It was an age in which new devices, new procedures, and new techniques were being introduced at a rapid clip. A former trainee of mine asked me to join him in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I told him: “No way! It’s too darned cold up there!” Nonetheless, I visited him and liked the town, the hospitals, the staff I met, the neighborhoods. Despite my initial misgivings, I moved to suburban Milwaukee to join him. I practiced out of several hospitals, doing much the same: day-to-night angioplasties, implanting stents, dealing with heart attacks and other cardiac emergencies, continuing to introduce new techniques.
>
> Then my mother died of sudden cardiac death just two months after having undergone successful two vessel angioplasty at a New Jersey hospital near my hometown. This hit me like a ton of bricks: the disease I dealt with every day, 7 days a week, was the same disease that killed my mom.
>
> But this event drove home to me that focusing on acute procedural care allows many people to die or experience other dangerous events before they can even get to the hospital. I began to look for methods to identify heart disease before such events took place. And I mean real methods, markers that, for instance, predicted the future in ways such as “heart attack within three years highly likely.” Symptoms? I was looking for markers in people without symptoms. Cholesterol? Don’t make me laugh. High blood pressure, family history, etc.–all were “soft” markers that didn’t have real power, didn’t tell you the “when” or “how much.” About that time a new device had come on the market, a type of CT scanner called an electron beam tomography device, or EBT, that was very fast, able to take an image of the heart in one tenth of one second, rather than the two seconds of conventional CT devices. The heart is a moving object and therefore very difficult to image in detail, but this device could do it. Then colleague and now friend Dr. John Rumberger at the Mayo Clinic did something extraordinary: he used this EBT device to image the coronary (heart) arteries of hearts from people who had died in car accidents and other means. He discovered that calcium–an easy component of atherosclerotic plaque to image–occupied 20% of the total volume of the atherosclerotic plaque that lined arteries. In other words, measuring calcium in the arteries provided a gauge, a dipstick, for the amount of total atherosclerotic plaque in the 3 coronary arteries. Early scientific publications validated the fact that the “calcium score”–zero for none, increasing values for greater quantities of calcium–was the most powerful predictor for future heart attack and death from heart disease ever developed.
>
> I put together some investors in Milwaukee to bring an EBT device here. (I was never an investor, just the medical adviser.) No hospital showed interest, as they saw it as a tool for prevention, not for increasing procedural revenue. Thus Milwaukee Heart Scan was born and we began to image the hearts of hundreds, then thousands of people. But it created a dilemma: a businessman, say, would have his heart scan, obtain a score of 500 (quite high), then ask “What the heck do I do about it?” Because this was about 18 years ago, we’d tell them what I now understand is nonsense: cut your fat, take Lipitor, and exercise. The businessman would come back in a year for another scan: score of 670–much higher. Now he’s freaking out: “What now?! Do I need heart catheterization or bypass surgery?” (Recall that these people were without symptoms, often exercising, and usually proved to have normal stress tests. Regardless, an unintended problem also arose: unscrupulous cardiologists who put such people through unnecessary heart procedures. This was something I did battle with back then, but nonetheless witnessed hundreds of people go through heart procedures without real reason.) We’d tell them “cut your fat further, take a higher dose of Lipitor, etc.” The businessman would return in another year or so, another scan: score 880. It became clear by our experience, as well as the published experience that we contributed to, that the calcium score increased at a rate of 25-30% per year and that tools such as statin drugs had very little effect in stopping this terrifying progression. We were therefore left without any real tools to deal with this problem, while all around me nice people were freaking out as they watched their coronary atherosclerotic plaque grow.
>
> So I set out to discover ways to put this to a stop. After all, we now had a tool, the EBT* device, that allowed us to track progression–or regression–of coronary disease. Little by little, step by step, we worked on new ways to slow or stop the process. I added advanced lipoprotein analysis, such as NMR lipoprotein testing, to better decipher the details in the fat-carrying particles in the bloodstream. I folded in new insights into such factors as vitamin D. Over many years, I learned several critical lessons:
>
> Having an omega-3 fatty acid RBC blood level of 10% or greater contributed to slowing. In other words, of all the fatty acids in red blood cells, RBCs, 10% or more had to be from the EPA and DHA of fish oil. This was achieved with EPA + DHA daily intakes of 3000-3600 mg per day from fish oil (only).
> Vitamin D–Vitamin D, when added to the mix of strategies I was using, yielded shocking effects. Before vitamin D, the majority of people only managed to slow the growth of their calcium scores. Adding vitamin D in oil-based gelcap form as cholecalciferol (not ergocalciferol, the prescription form) didn’t just slow it down; it actually reduced scores, often dramatically. I watched, for example, a score of 600 become a score of 300 a year later. This proved fairly consistent. Of course, vitamin D also proved to be so powerful in many other facets of health, as well.
> Small LDL particles that are oxidation-prone and persist in the bloodstream up to 7-times longer than large LDL particles were eliminated in the majority of people by eliminating wheat, grains, and sugars. This mean, for instance, that someone with a total LDL particle number (by NMR) of 2000 nmol/L, a virtual count of LDL particles in the bloodstream, of which 1400 nmol/L were small particles, would eliminate wheat, grains, and sugars and drop small LDL particles to zero, total LDL particle number to 600 nmol/L: 2000 -1400 = 600 nmol/L. An LDL particle number of 600 nmol/L is equivalent to an LDL cholesterol value of 60 mg/dl (drop the last digit from LDL particle number)–a spectacularly low value achieved without statin drugs. Over time, it became clearer and clearer: the majority of people did not need statin drugs and achieved values better than that on the drugs.
> Thyroid status needed to be perfect–Even a marginal degree of hypothyroidism (low thyroid function responsible for low energy, weight gain or failure to lose weight, inappropriately cold hands and feet) could trigger extravagant increases in calcium scores. And hypothyroidism was incredibly common, easily affecting 30% of the people I saw. It meant addressing iodine and aiming for a TSH no higher than 1.5 mIU/L and free T4 and free T3 in the upper half of the reference range, along with absence of any symptoms of hypothyroidism.
> Blood sugar needed to be in a truly normal range–This meant fasting blood sugars of no higher than 100 mg/dl, preferably 90 mg/dl or lower, and hemoglobin A1c, HbA1c, had to be 5.0% or less. In other words, you had to reverse pre-diabetes or diabetes to gain control over coronary plaque growth.
> Efforts to cultivate healthy bowel flora were necessary–This most recent lesson added even greater advantage to control over calcium scores, as well as overall health and metabolic markers.
> There were some additional lessons learned along the way that applied to selected groups of people, such as the efforts targeting the genetic pattern, lipoprotein(a); the contribution of phytosterols/sitosterol to heart disease; dietary manipulations to accommodate specific genetic variants such as apoprotein E2 and abnormal postprandial (after-meal) processing of lipoproteins, etc. But, for the majority, the menu proved incredibly simple and straightforward, and most people following this program stopped the growth of their coronary atherosclerotic plaque/calcium scores altogether, many enjoying dramatic drops in scores, something my colleagues declare is impossible even today. And I stopped seeing heart attacks, heart symptoms, need for heart catheterizations, stents, and bypass surgery–coronary disease essentially came to a halt. Though my background was in heart procedures, I stopped doing them . . . because nobody needed them any longer. Five, six, seven, or eight procedures per day fell to zero. (You can also appreciate the indifference from my colleagues and hospitals, also, as their primary source of income is from heart procedures.)
>
> Of course, as I introduced these strategies, I also watched people lose extraordinary amounts of weight, look and feel better, reverse diabetes, reverse autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, reverse skin rashes like eczema and psoriasis, obtain freedom from acid reflux and irritable bowel symptoms, improve their emotional health, enjoy better sleep, reverse depression, obtain relief from migraine headaches, etc.–all the lessons I now talk about in Wheat Belly conversations. But, with the flood of wonderful experiences that continue to come into the Wheat Belly Facebook page, the Wheat Belly Blog, and elsewhere, it is sometimes easy to forget: this whole collection of life- and health-changing revelations began with efforts to stamp out heart attacks and coronary heart disease . . . and it works. It works big time. And it’s incredibly easy, while providing an astounding range of improvements in overall health.
>
> *The EBT device has now been supplanted by a newer type of CT scanner, the multi-detector CT, MDCT, device. So for anyone looking for a heart scan to obtain a calcium score, the majority of imaging centers now have the newer devices. Also, anyone interested in how to apply advanced lipoprotein analysis, see the chapter on metabolic health in Wheat Belly Total Health.
>
> Related
> Why calcium supplements are unnecessary on the Wheat Belly lifestyle
> April 11, 2016
>
> https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2012/12/wheat-belly-quick-dirty-2/
>
> Wheat Belly: Quick & Dirty 2
> by Dr. Davis | Dec 5, 2012 | Diet and Lifestyle | 511 comments
>
> In view of the many new readers on the Wheat Belly Blog, many of whom have not yet had an opportunity to read the book but are eager to get started, here is the updated Wheat Belly Quick & Dirty summary. It summarizes the essential dietary strategies of the Wheat Belly approach to 1) avoid all products made from high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat that wreak health destruction, and 2) create a diet that is otherwise healthy and appropriate for all members of the family.
>
> This is the same diet I advise patients in my office to follow that achieves spectacular reductions in weight, provides relief from joint pain and acid reflux, reduces triglycerides, shoots HDL upward, reduces small LDL particles (the #1 cause of heart disease in the U.S!), and unravels diabetic/pre-diabetic tendencies. The diet starts with the biggest step of all: elimination of wheat and other closely related grains (rye, barley, corn, oats, rice, millet, amaranth, bulgur). But a healthy diet cannot end there, else you and I could eat no wheat but fill our calories with soft drinks and jelly beans. So the next step is to limit carbohydrates if your goal is to lose more weight and correct metabolic distortions like high blood sugar and small LDL particles. Then, we choose our foods wisely to avoid the common boobytraps set for us by Big Food and Agribusiness, not to mention the friendly dietitian at the hospital! Diet in the 21st century is no longer just about carbs, proteins, and fats–it is also about being savvy about the changes introduced into our foods by food producers.
>
> Eliminate:
> All wheat-based products (all breads, all breakfast cereals, noodles, pasta, bagels, muffins, pancakes, waffles, donuts, pretzels, crackers), oat products (oatmeal, oat bran), corn and cornstarch-based products (sauces or gravies thickened with cornstarch, prepared or processed foods containing cornstarch, cornmeal products like chips, tacos, tortillas), sugary soft drinks, candies.
>
> Avoid processed foods containing wheat, such as soy sauce, Twizzlers, Campbells Tomato Soup, salad dressings, taco seasoning–examine ALL labels and avoid any food with mention of wheat. (It’s not a bad idea to avoid foods with labels! Cucumbers and spinach, for instance, generally don’t come with labels.)
>
> All other grain-containing products–especially those with corn, rye, barley, and rice. Corn, like wheat, is contained in many processed foods.
>
> Enjoy:
> Vegetables-except potatoes; fresh or frozen, never canned
> Raw nuts and seeds-raw almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamians; dry-roasted peanuts (not roasted in oil); pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, and chia seeds
> Healthy oils (preferably unheated, whenever possible)-olive, flaxseed, coconut, avocado, walnut
> Meats-red meats, pork, fish, chicken, turkey, eggs. (Consider free-range, grass-fed and/or organic sources.) Eat the fat!
> Ground flaxseed, chia seeds
> Teas, coffee, water, unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk or coconut water
> Cheeses—real cultured cheeses only (not Velveeta or single-slice processed cheese)
> Avocado or guacamole; hummus; unsweetened condiments, e.g., mayonnaise, mustard, oil-based salad dressings; ketchup without high-fructose corn syrup; pesto, tapenades; olives
>
> Limited:
> Fruit-No more than 2 servings a day (one serving is a level handful), preferably in this order (best first): berries of all varieties, citrus, apples, nectarines, peaches, melons. Minimize bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and grapes and only in the smallest of quantities (since they are like candy in sugar content)
> Fruit juices-only real juices and in minimal quantities (no more than 2-4 oz)
> Dairy products-No more than 1 serving per day of milk, cottage cheese or yogurt, unsweetened (Fat content does not matter.)
> Legumes/beans; peas; sweet potatoes and yams
> Dark chocolates-70-85% cocoa or greater; no more than 40 grams (approximately 2 inches square) per day
> Sugar-free foods–preferably stevia-containing, rather than aspartame; other safe sweeteners include monk fruit, erythritol, xylitol, and inulin
>
> Never:
> ”Gluten-free” foods made with rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, or potato starch
> Fried foods
> Fast foods
> Hydrogenated “trans” fats
> Cured meats–hot dogs, sausages, bacon, bologna, pepperoni “fixed” with sodium nitrite
> High-fructose corn syrup containing foods; honey; agave syrup; sucrose
> Processed rice, rice flour or potato products-rice crackers, rice cereals, pretzels, white breads, breakfast cereals, potato chips
> Fat-free or low-fat salad dressings
>
> Quick tips:
> For healthy breakfast choices, consider unlimited eggs, any style; foods baked from Wheat Belly recipes, such as pancakes, grainless “granola”; ground flaxseed as a hot cereal (e.g., with coconut milk, organic milk, or unsweetened almond milk; blueberries, strawberries, etc.). Also consider raw nuts; cheese; consider having “dinner for breakfast,” meaning transferring salads, cheese, chicken, and other “dinner” foods to breakfast.
> Add 1 tablespoon or more of taste-compatible healthy oil to every meal. For example, mix in 1 tbsp coconut oil to ground flaxseed hot cereal. Or add 2 tbsp olive oil to eggs after scrambling. Adding oils will blunt appetite. Do not trim the fat off meat and purchase fattier cuts. Cook with (organic) butter, coconut oil, lard, tallow (non-hydrogenated, if purchased).
> Reach for raw nuts and 85% cocoa dark chocolate first as convenient snacks.
> Use the recipes in the Wheat Belly Blog, books, and cookbooks whenever cravings hit: cookies, muffins, brownies, coffee cake, cheesecake from the recipes can quell appetite with no downside.
>
> Related
> Wheat Belly: Quick and Dirty #3
> September 28, 2017
> In "Diet and Lifestyle"

Click here to read the complete article

On Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 4:10:52 PM UTC-5, Tom Kunich wrote:
>
> At 79 years old I am in nearly perfect health if you don't count the slowly (very slowly) receding Shingles which is a part of life for those who grew up in my time. It never occurred to me that there was a descent [sic] vaccine that would prevent this and none of the doctors I had ever mentioned it.

How on earth did you not know there is a shingles vaccine??

> And now that I know about it I will get it.

:-) No fears that they'll inject microchips into your bloodstream? No worries that it's going to change your DNA?
Shouldn't you check to see the huge proportion of recipients who developed terrible heart problems
after Shingrix? Aren't there quasi-doctors on YouTube telling you how dangerous that vaccine is?

Damn, Tom, you're slipping into rationality! :-)

- Frank Krygowski

On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 13:10:49 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
<cyclintom@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 12:49:13?PM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
>> On 11/21/2023 1:34 PM, Mike A Schwab wrote:
>> > On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 9:59:26?PM UTC-6, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> > [deleted]
>> >>
>> >> Yes. Several of my friends suggested I ask my cardiologist about it.
>> >> When I asked, he said that I wasn't showing enough symptoms to justify
>> >> a pacemaker. By symptoms, he was looking for a long lasting erratic
>> >> heart beat or a slowing of the heart rate (not an occasional missing
>> >> heartbeat).
>> >>
>> >> In my case, it's not the heart that's the problem. It's the arteries
>> >> clogged with plaque restricting the blood flow that are causing a
>> >> problem. I had 2 stents installed in 2016, which were a big help.
>> >> Forcing the heart to pump harder isn't going to do anything useful.
>> >> --
>> >> Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
>> >> PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
>> >> Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
>> >> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
>> >
>> > I would unplug those arteries with a diet.
>> > Wheat Belly (keto / paleo).
>> >
>> > Start Vitamin D3 (1,000 age 1-5, 2,500 age 6-19, 5,000 age 20-49, 10,000 age 50+) I.U., K2 if available, Magnesium 1 pill, all with breakfast, for life. Everyone is low on these. A few people have misread directions with liquid Vitamin D3, instead of taking 2 or 3 drops (5,000 I.U. each drop) a day, taking the whole dropper full every day. They experienced some minor toxic effects until they reduced dosage.
>> > We used to get Iodine from Iodized salt, but now its low salt or sea / Himalayan salt without. Only a very small percent of people have a salt sensitive blood pressure. Seaweed salad or supplement most people need.
>> >
>> > If you get faint when you don't eat carbs for a long time this could be hypoglycemia which can develop into diabetic ketoacidosis, without dosing with glucose can be fatal. This is caused by your fat (ketone) metabolism in your mitochondria is not working. Treatment is with small doses of dietary ketones to exercise this metabolism. One bottle of liquid coconut oil (little taste) (US$10) from cooking oil section. One teaspoon / 5 ml a day for a week, in salad dressing, or food, or drink. Then one tablespoon / 15 ml a day until bottle is finish. Might repeat with MCT oil from a vitamin section.
>> >
>> > Week 1: Reduce grains especially wheat. No sugared drinks. If you bake at home Wheat Belly All Purpose Flour can be mixed or bought for cooking or baking.
>> > Week 2: Eliminate the grain, limit potatoes to thick slices so almost raw for good gut bacteria.
>> > Week 3: Reduce carbs from other vegetables. This is where you can really start to get Keto flu / hypoglycemia / diabetic ketoacidosis. After a long time without citrus fruits you can develop scurvy from low Vitamin C.
>> > Final goal: Protein 16-20% calories. Less can be a protein deficit, more can lead to kidney damage (a problem with Atkins), or excess is used like glucose. Carbs 5% of calories. Fats 75% or calories.
>> >
>> >
>> > https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2015/09/the-wheat-belly-lifestyle-began-with-heart-health/
>> >
>> > The Wheat Belly lifestyle BEGAN with heart health
>> > by Dr. Davis | Sep 15, 2015 | Diet and Lifestyle | 22 comments
>> >
>> > Debbie posted this comment on the Wheat Belly Facebook page:
>> >
>> > “I posted a few weeks back about our scare from our primary care doctor. My husband had a calcium score of 1200. We panicked! Messaged Dr. Davis and went the next day to a cardio doctor and had a stress test, ultrasound, and blood test (inflammatory markers). Got him on recommended supplements per Dr Davis.
>> >
>> > “Latest update: Cardio doctor says, being as you started ‘Wheat Belly’ back in October, 2014, your score could have been higher and already started to improve, we don’t know. What we DO know is, because of this new way of eating, all other tests are NORMAL! Sugar A1C from 8.3 to 6.0, cholesterol way down, blood pressure down, etc, etc all down. Cardio doctor was AMAZED! Continue this diet, supplements and come visit again in 6 months or so!
>> >
>> > “Without Wheat Belly, my husband was heading for a major heart attack. I have also found the cause of my own health problems. I started Wheat Belly 3/2014. I am down 78 lbs, no longer pre-diabetic and my symptoms are gone from muscle pain, headaches, chronic itching, bloating, digestive issues, etc., etc. THANK-YOU.”
>> >
>> > What a terrific encapsulation of the entire Wheat Belly experience. I didn’t develop the concepts in Wheat Belly by one day just deciding to pick on wheat. These ideas were developed over years of working and researching ways to give people better control over health, but specifically heart health, as I became increasingly disenchanted with conventional notions of heart disease prevention. And it happened on the background of calcium scores of the sort that Debbie’s husband had. So let me tell you how it all happened.
>> >
>> > I was practicing interventional cardiology in Cleveland, Ohio, at an academic medical center where I was director of the catheterization laboratory and the cardiology training fellowship. It was an age in which new devices, new procedures, and new techniques were being introduced at a rapid clip. A former trainee of mine asked me to join him in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I told him: “No way! It’s too darned cold up there!” Nonetheless, I visited him and liked the town, the hospitals, the staff I met, the neighborhoods. Despite my initial misgivings, I moved to suburban Milwaukee to join him. I practiced out of several hospitals, doing much the same: day-to-night angioplasties, implanting stents, dealing with heart attacks and other cardiac emergencies, continuing to introduce new techniques.
>> >
>> > Then my mother died of sudden cardiac death just two months after having undergone successful two vessel angioplasty at a New Jersey hospital near my hometown. This hit me like a ton of bricks: the disease I dealt with every day, 7 days a week, was the same disease that killed my mom.
>> >
>> > But this event drove home to me that focusing on acute procedural care allows many people to die or experience other dangerous events before they can even get to the hospital. I began to look for methods to identify heart disease before such events took place. And I mean real methods, markers that, for instance, predicted the future in ways such as “heart attack within three years highly likely.” Symptoms? I was looking for markers in people without symptoms. Cholesterol? Don’t make me laugh. High blood pressure, family history, etc.–all were “soft” markers that didn’t have real power, didn’t tell you the “when” or “how much.” About that time a new device had come on the market, a type of CT scanner called an electron beam tomography device, or EBT, that was very fast, able to take an image of the heart in one tenth of one second, rather than the two seconds of conventional CT devices. The heart is a moving object and therefore very difficult to image in detail, but this device
>could do it. Then colleague and now friend Dr. John Rumberger at the Mayo Clinic did something extraordinary: he used this EBT device to image the coronary (heart) arteries of hearts from people who had died in car accidents and other means. He discovered that calcium–an easy component of atherosclerotic plaque to image–occupied 20% of the total volume of the atherosclerotic plaque that lined arteries. In other words, measuring calcium in the arteries provided a gauge, a dipstick, for the amount of total atherosclerotic plaque in the 3 coronary arteries. Early scientific publications validated the fact that the “calcium score”–zero for none, increasing values for greater quantities of calcium–was the most powerful predictor for future heart attack and death from heart disease ever developed.
>> >
>> > I put together some investors in Milwaukee to bring an EBT device here. (I was never an investor, just the medical adviser.) No hospital showed interest, as they saw it as a tool for prevention, not for increasing procedural revenue. Thus Milwaukee Heart Scan was born and we began to image the hearts of hundreds, then thousands of people. But it created a dilemma: a businessman, say, would have his heart scan, obtain a score of 500 (quite high), then ask “What the heck do I do about it?” Because this was about 18 years ago, we’d tell them what I now understand is nonsense: cut your fat, take Lipitor, and exercise. The businessman would come back in a year for another scan: score of 670–much higher. Now he’s freaking out: “What now?! Do I need heart catheterization or bypass surgery?” (Recall that these people were without symptoms, often exercising, and usually proved to have normal stress tests. Regardless, an unintended problem also arose: unscrupulous cardiologists who put
>such people through unnecessary heart procedures. This was something I did battle with back then, but nonetheless witnessed hundreds of people go through heart procedures without real reason.) We’d tell them “cut your fat further, take a higher dose of Lipitor, etc.” The businessman would return in another year or so, another scan: score 880. It became clear by our experience, as well as the published experience that we contributed to, that the calcium score increased at a rate of 25-30% per year and that tools such as statin drugs had very little effect in stopping this terrifying progression. We were therefore left without any real tools to deal with this problem, while all around me nice people were freaking out as they watched their coronary atherosclerotic plaque grow.
>> >
>> > So I set out to discover ways to put this to a stop. After all, we now had a tool, the EBT* device, that allowed us to track progression–or regression–of coronary disease. Little by little, step by step, we worked on new ways to slow or stop the process. I added advanced lipoprotein analysis, such as NMR lipoprotein testing, to better decipher the details in the fat-carrying particles in the bloodstream. I folded in new insights into such factors as vitamin D. Over many years, I learned several critical lessons:
>> >
>> > Having an omega-3 fatty acid RBC blood level of 10% or greater contributed to slowing. In other words, of all the fatty acids in red blood cells, RBCs, 10% or more had to be from the EPA and DHA of fish oil. This was achieved with EPA + DHA daily intakes of 3000-3600 mg per day from fish oil (only).
>> > Vitamin D–Vitamin D, when added to the mix of strategies I was using, yielded shocking effects. Before vitamin D, the majority of people only managed to slow the growth of their calcium scores. Adding vitamin D in oil-based gelcap form as cholecalciferol (not ergocalciferol, the prescription form) didn’t just slow it down; it actually reduced scores, often dramatically. I watched, for example, a score of 600 become a score of 300 a year later. This proved fairly consistent. Of course, vitamin D also proved to be so powerful in many other facets of health, as well.
>> > Small LDL particles that are oxidation-prone and persist in the bloodstream up to 7-times longer than large LDL particles were eliminated in the majority of people by eliminating wheat, grains, and sugars. This mean, for instance, that someone with a total LDL particle number (by NMR) of 2000 nmol/L, a virtual count of LDL particles in the bloodstream, of which 1400 nmol/L were small particles, would eliminate wheat, grains, and sugars and drop small LDL particles to zero, total LDL particle number to 600 nmol/L: 2000 -1400 = 600 nmol/L. An LDL particle number of 600 nmol/L is equivalent to an LDL cholesterol value of 60 mg/dl (drop the last digit from LDL particle number)–a spectacularly low value achieved without statin drugs. Over time, it became clearer and clearer: the majority of people did not need statin drugs and achieved values better than that on the drugs.
>> > Thyroid status needed to be perfect–Even a marginal degree of hypothyroidism (low thyroid function responsible for low energy, weight gain or failure to lose weight, inappropriately cold hands and feet) could trigger extravagant increases in calcium scores. And hypothyroidism was incredibly common, easily affecting 30% of the people I saw. It meant addressing iodine and aiming for a TSH no higher than 1.5 mIU/L and free T4 and free T3 in the upper half of the reference range, along with absence of any symptoms of hypothyroidism.
>> > Blood sugar needed to be in a truly normal range–This meant fasting blood sugars of no higher than 100 mg/dl, preferably 90 mg/dl or lower, and hemoglobin A1c, HbA1c, had to be 5.0% or less. In other words, you had to reverse pre-diabetes or diabetes to gain control over coronary plaque growth.
>> > Efforts to cultivate healthy bowel flora were necessary–This most recent lesson added even greater advantage to control over calcium scores, as well as overall health and metabolic markers.
>> > There were some additional lessons learned along the way that applied to selected groups of people, such as the efforts targeting the genetic pattern, lipoprotein(a); the contribution of phytosterols/sitosterol to heart disease; dietary manipulations to accommodate specific genetic variants such as apoprotein E2 and abnormal postprandial (after-meal) processing of lipoproteins, etc. But, for the majority, the menu proved incredibly simple and straightforward, and most people following this program stopped the growth of their coronary atherosclerotic plaque/calcium scores altogether, many enjoying dramatic drops in scores, something my colleagues declare is impossible even today. And I stopped seeing heart attacks, heart symptoms, need for heart catheterizations, stents, and bypass surgery–coronary disease essentially came to a halt. Though my background was in heart procedures, I stopped doing them . . . because nobody needed them any longer. Five, six, seven, or eight
procedures
>per day fell to zero. (You can also appreciate the indifference from my colleagues and hospitals, also, as their primary source of income is from heart procedures.)
>> >
>> > Of course, as I introduced these strategies, I also watched people lose extraordinary amounts of weight, look and feel better, reverse diabetes, reverse autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, reverse skin rashes like eczema and psoriasis, obtain freedom from acid reflux and irritable bowel symptoms, improve their emotional health, enjoy better sleep, reverse depression, obtain relief from migraine headaches, etc.–all the lessons I now talk about in Wheat Belly conversations. But, with the flood of wonderful experiences that continue to come into the Wheat Belly Facebook page, the Wheat Belly Blog, and elsewhere, it is sometimes easy to forget: this whole collection of life- and health-changing revelations began with efforts to stamp out heart attacks and coronary heart disease . . . and it works. It works big time. And it’s incredibly easy, while providing an astounding range of improvements in overall health.
>> >
>> > *The EBT device has now been supplanted by a newer type of CT scanner, the multi-detector CT, MDCT, device. So for anyone looking for a heart scan to obtain a calcium score, the majority of imaging centers now have the newer devices. Also, anyone interested in how to apply advanced lipoprotein analysis, see the chapter on metabolic health in Wheat Belly Total Health.
>> >
>> > Related
>> > Why calcium supplements are unnecessary on the Wheat Belly lifestyle
>> > April 11, 2016
>> >
>> > https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2012/12/wheat-belly-quick-dirty-2/
>> >
>> > Wheat Belly: Quick & Dirty 2
>> > by Dr. Davis | Dec 5, 2012 | Diet and Lifestyle | 511 comments
>> >
>> > In view of the many new readers on the Wheat Belly Blog, many of whom have not yet had an opportunity to read the book but are eager to get started, here is the updated Wheat Belly Quick & Dirty summary. It summarizes the essential dietary strategies of the Wheat Belly approach to 1) avoid all products made from high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat that wreak health destruction, and 2) create a diet that is otherwise healthy and appropriate for all members of the family.
>> >
>> > This is the same diet I advise patients in my office to follow that achieves spectacular reductions in weight, provides relief from joint pain and acid reflux, reduces triglycerides, shoots HDL upward, reduces small LDL particles (the #1 cause of heart disease in the U.S!), and unravels diabetic/pre-diabetic tendencies. The diet starts with the biggest step of all: elimination of wheat and other closely related grains (rye, barley, corn, oats, rice, millet, amaranth, bulgur). But a healthy diet cannot end there, else you and I could eat no wheat but fill our calories with soft drinks and jelly beans. So the next step is to limit carbohydrates if your goal is to lose more weight and correct metabolic distortions like high blood sugar and small LDL particles. Then, we choose our foods wisely to avoid the common boobytraps set for us by Big Food and Agribusiness, not to mention the friendly dietitian at the hospital! Diet in the 21st century is no longer just about carbs, proteins,
>and fats–it is also about being savvy about the changes introduced into our foods by food producers.
>> >
>> > Eliminate:
>> > All wheat-based products (all breads, all breakfast cereals, noodles, pasta, bagels, muffins, pancakes, waffles, donuts, pretzels, crackers), oat products (oatmeal, oat bran), corn and cornstarch-based products (sauces or gravies thickened with cornstarch, prepared or processed foods containing cornstarch, cornmeal products like chips, tacos, tortillas), sugary soft drinks, candies.
>> >
>> > Avoid processed foods containing wheat, such as soy sauce, Twizzlers, Campbells Tomato Soup, salad dressings, taco seasoning–examine ALL labels and avoid any food with mention of wheat. (It’s not a bad idea to avoid foods with labels! Cucumbers and spinach, for instance, generally don’t come with labels.)
>> >
>> > All other grain-containing products–especially those with corn, rye, barley, and rice. Corn, like wheat, is contained in many processed foods.
>> >
>> > Enjoy:
>> > Vegetables-except potatoes; fresh or frozen, never canned
>> > Raw nuts and seeds-raw almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamians; dry-roasted peanuts (not roasted in oil); pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, and chia seeds
>> > Healthy oils (preferably unheated, whenever possible)-olive, flaxseed, coconut, avocado, walnut
>> > Meats-red meats, pork, fish, chicken, turkey, eggs. (Consider free-range, grass-fed and/or organic sources.) Eat the fat!
>> > Ground flaxseed, chia seeds
>> > Teas, coffee, water, unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk or coconut water
>> > Cheeses—real cultured cheeses only (not Velveeta or single-slice processed cheese)
>> > Avocado or guacamole; hummus; unsweetened condiments, e.g., mayonnaise, mustard, oil-based salad dressings; ketchup without high-fructose corn syrup; pesto, tapenades; olives
>> >
>> > Limited:
>> > Fruit-No more than 2 servings a day (one serving is a level handful), preferably in this order (best first): berries of all varieties, citrus, apples, nectarines, peaches, melons. Minimize bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and grapes and only in the smallest of quantities (since they are like candy in sugar content)
>> > Fruit juices-only real juices and in minimal quantities (no more than 2-4 oz)
>> > Dairy products-No more than 1 serving per day of milk, cottage cheese or yogurt, unsweetened (Fat content does not matter.)
>> > Legumes/beans; peas; sweet potatoes and yams
>> > Dark chocolates-70-85% cocoa or greater; no more than 40 grams (approximately 2 inches square) per day
>> > Sugar-free foods–preferably stevia-containing, rather than aspartame; other safe sweeteners include monk fruit, erythritol, xylitol, and inulin
>> >
>> > Never:
>> > ”Gluten-free” foods made with rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, or potato starch
>> > Fried foods
>> > Fast foods
>> > Hydrogenated “trans” fats
>> > Cured meats–hot dogs, sausages, bacon, bologna, pepperoni “fixed” with sodium nitrite
>> > High-fructose corn syrup containing foods; honey; agave syrup; sucrose
>> > Processed rice, rice flour or potato products-rice crackers, rice cereals, pretzels, white breads, breakfast cereals, potato chips
>> > Fat-free or low-fat salad dressings
>> >
>> > Quick tips:
>> > For healthy breakfast choices, consider unlimited eggs, any style; foods baked from Wheat Belly recipes, such as pancakes, grainless “granola”; ground flaxseed as a hot cereal (e.g., with coconut milk, organic milk, or unsweetened almond milk; blueberries, strawberries, etc.). Also consider raw nuts; cheese; consider having “dinner for breakfast,” meaning transferring salads, cheese, chicken, and other “dinner” foods to breakfast.
>> > Add 1 tablespoon or more of taste-compatible healthy oil to every meal. For example, mix in 1 tbsp coconut oil to ground flaxseed hot cereal. Or add 2 tbsp olive oil to eggs after scrambling. Adding oils will blunt appetite. Do not trim the fat off meat and purchase fattier cuts. Cook with (organic) butter, coconut oil, lard, tallow (non-hydrogenated, if purchased).
>> > Reach for raw nuts and 85% cocoa dark chocolate first as convenient snacks.
>> > Use the recipes in the Wheat Belly Blog, books, and cookbooks whenever cravings hit: cookies, muffins, brownies, coffee cake, cheesecake from the recipes can quell appetite with no downside.
>> >
>> > Related
>> > Wheat Belly: Quick and Dirty #3
>> > September 28, 2017
>> > In "Diet and Lifestyle"
>> Thank you that was quite revealing and surprising.
>>
>> Tough choice; death or life without pasta.
>> I'll think about it. Maybe.
>> --
>> Andrew Muzi
>> a...@yellowjersey.org
>> Open every day since 1 April, 1971
>
>At 79 years old I am in nearly perfect health if you don't count the slowly (very slowly) receding Shingles which is a part of life for those who grew up in my time. It never occurred to me that there was a descent vaccine that would prevent this and none of the doctors I had ever mentioned it. And now that I know about it I will get it. But it appears that I have to wait a year after my shingles disappears.
>
But Tommy there is both a vaccination and a medicine to treat
Shingles. See
https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/treatment.html
'
--
Cheers,

On Tue, 21 Nov 2023 14:49:09 -0600, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:

>On 11/21/2023 1:34 PM, Mike A Schwab wrote:
>> On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 9:59:26?PM UTC-6, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> [deleted]
>>>
>>> Yes. Several of my friends suggested I ask my cardiologist about it.
>>> When I asked, he said that I wasn't showing enough symptoms to justify
>>> a pacemaker. By symptoms, he was looking for a long lasting erratic
>>> heart beat or a slowing of the heart rate (not an occasional missing
>>> heartbeat).
>>>
>>> In my case, it's not the heart that's the problem. It's the arteries
>>> clogged with plaque restricting the blood flow that are causing a
>>> problem. I had 2 stents installed in 2016, which were a big help.
>>> Forcing the heart to pump harder isn't going to do anything useful.
>>> --
>>> Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
>>> PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
>>> Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
>>> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
>>
>> I would unplug those arteries with a diet.
>> Wheat Belly (keto / paleo).
>>
>> Start Vitamin D3 (1,000 age 1-5, 2,500 age 6-19, 5,000 age 20-49, 10,000 age 50+) I.U., K2 if available, Magnesium 1 pill, all with breakfast, for life. Everyone is low on these. A few people have misread directions with liquid Vitamin D3, instead of taking 2 or 3 drops (5,000 I.U. each drop) a day, taking the whole dropper full every day. They experienced some minor toxic effects until they reduced dosage.
>> We used to get Iodine from Iodized salt, but now its low salt or sea / Himalayan salt without. Only a very small percent of people have a salt sensitive blood pressure. Seaweed salad or supplement most people need.
>>
>> If you get faint when you don't eat carbs for a long time this could be hypoglycemia which can develop into diabetic ketoacidosis, without dosing with glucose can be fatal. This is caused by your fat (ketone) metabolism in your mitochondria is not working. Treatment is with small doses of dietary ketones to exercise this metabolism. One bottle of liquid coconut oil (little taste) (US$10) from cooking oil section. One teaspoon / 5 ml a day for a week, in salad dressing, or food, or drink. Then one tablespoon / 15 ml a day until bottle is finish. Might repeat with MCT oil from a vitamin section.
>>
>> Week 1: Reduce grains especially wheat. No sugared drinks. If you bake at home Wheat Belly All Purpose Flour can be mixed or bought for cooking or baking.
>> Week 2: Eliminate the grain, limit potatoes to thick slices so almost raw for good gut bacteria.
>> Week 3: Reduce carbs from other vegetables. This is where you can really start to get Keto flu / hypoglycemia / diabetic ketoacidosis. After a long time without citrus fruits you can develop scurvy from low Vitamin C.
>> Final goal: Protein 16-20% calories. Less can be a protein deficit, more can lead to kidney damage (a problem with Atkins), or excess is used like glucose. Carbs 5% of calories. Fats 75% or calories.
>>
>>
>> https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2015/09/the-wheat-belly-lifestyle-began-with-heart-health/
>>
>> The Wheat Belly lifestyle BEGAN with heart health
>> by Dr. Davis | Sep 15, 2015 | Diet and Lifestyle | 22 comments
>>
>> Debbie posted this comment on the Wheat Belly Facebook page:
>>
>> “I posted a few weeks back about our scare from our primary care doctor. My husband had a calcium score of 1200. We panicked! Messaged Dr. Davis and went the next day to a cardio doctor and had a stress test, ultrasound, and blood test (inflammatory markers). Got him on recommended supplements per Dr Davis.
>>
>> “Latest update: Cardio doctor says, being as you started ‘Wheat Belly’ back in October, 2014, your score could have been higher and already started to improve, we don’t know. What we DO know is, because of this new way of eating, all other tests are NORMAL! Sugar A1C from 8.3 to 6.0, cholesterol way down, blood pressure down, etc, etc all down. Cardio doctor was AMAZED! Continue this diet, supplements and come visit again in 6 months or so!
>>
>> “Without Wheat Belly, my husband was heading for a major heart attack. I have also found the cause of my own health problems. I started Wheat Belly 3/2014. I am down 78 lbs, no longer pre-diabetic and my symptoms are gone from muscle pain, headaches, chronic itching, bloating, digestive issues, etc., etc. THANK-YOU.”
>>
>> What a terrific encapsulation of the entire Wheat Belly experience. I didn’t develop the concepts in Wheat Belly by one day just deciding to pick on wheat. These ideas were developed over years of working and researching ways to give people better control over health, but specifically heart health, as I became increasingly disenchanted with conventional notions of heart disease prevention. And it happened on the background of calcium scores of the sort that Debbie’s husband had. So let me tell you how it all happened.
>>
>> I was practicing interventional cardiology in Cleveland, Ohio, at an academic medical center where I was director of the catheterization laboratory and the cardiology training fellowship. It was an age in which new devices, new procedures, and new techniques were being introduced at a rapid clip. A former trainee of mine asked me to join him in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I told him: “No way! It’s too darned cold up there!” Nonetheless, I visited him and liked the town, the hospitals, the staff I met, the neighborhoods. Despite my initial misgivings, I moved to suburban Milwaukee to join him. I practiced out of several hospitals, doing much the same: day-to-night angioplasties, implanting stents, dealing with heart attacks and other cardiac emergencies, continuing to introduce new techniques.
>>
>> Then my mother died of sudden cardiac death just two months after having undergone successful two vessel angioplasty at a New Jersey hospital near my hometown. This hit me like a ton of bricks: the disease I dealt with every day, 7 days a week, was the same disease that killed my mom.
>>
>> But this event drove home to me that focusing on acute procedural care allows many people to die or experience other dangerous events before they can even get to the hospital. I began to look for methods to identify heart disease before such events took place. And I mean real methods, markers that, for instance, predicted the future in ways such as “heart attack within three years highly likely.” Symptoms? I was looking for markers in people without symptoms. Cholesterol? Don’t make me laugh. High blood pressure, family history, etc.–all were “soft” markers that didn’t have real power, didn’t tell you the “when” or “how much.” About that time a new device had come on the market, a type of CT scanner called an electron beam tomography device, or EBT, that was very fast, able to take an image of the heart in one tenth of one second, rather than the two seconds of conventional CT devices. The heart is a moving object and therefore very difficult to image in detail, but this device
>could do it. Then colleague and now friend Dr. John Rumberger at the Mayo Clinic did something extraordinary: he used this EBT device to image the coronary (heart) arteries of hearts from people who had died in car accidents and other means. He discovered that calcium–an easy component of atherosclerotic plaque to image–occupied 20% of the total volume of the atherosclerotic plaque that lined arteries. In other words, measuring calcium in the arteries provided a gauge, a dipstick, for the amount of total atherosclerotic plaque in the 3 coronary arteries. Early scientific publications validated the fact that the “calcium score”–zero for none, increasing values for greater quantities of calcium–was the most powerful predictor for future heart attack and death from heart disease ever developed.
>>
>> I put together some investors in Milwaukee to bring an EBT device here. (I was never an investor, just the medical adviser.) No hospital showed interest, as they saw it as a tool for prevention, not for increasing procedural revenue. Thus Milwaukee Heart Scan was born and we began to image the hearts of hundreds, then thousands of people. But it created a dilemma: a businessman, say, would have his heart scan, obtain a score of 500 (quite high), then ask “What the heck do I do about it?” Because this was about 18 years ago, we’d tell them what I now understand is nonsense: cut your fat, take Lipitor, and exercise. The businessman would come back in a year for another scan: score of 670–much higher. Now he’s freaking out: “What now?! Do I need heart catheterization or bypass surgery?” (Recall that these people were without symptoms, often exercising, and usually proved to have normal stress tests. Regardless, an unintended problem also arose: unscrupulous cardiologists who put such
>people through unnecessary heart procedures. This was something I did battle with back then, but nonetheless witnessed hundreds of people go through heart procedures without real reason.) We’d tell them “cut your fat further, take a higher dose of Lipitor, etc.” The businessman would return in another year or so, another scan: score 880. It became clear by our experience, as well as the published experience that we contributed to, that the calcium score increased at a rate of 25-30% per year and that tools such as statin drugs had very little effect in stopping this terrifying progression. We were therefore left without any real tools to deal with this problem, while all around me nice people were freaking out as they watched their coronary atherosclerotic plaque grow.
>>
>> So I set out to discover ways to put this to a stop. After all, we now had a tool, the EBT* device, that allowed us to track progression–or regression–of coronary disease. Little by little, step by step, we worked on new ways to slow or stop the process. I added advanced lipoprotein analysis, such as NMR lipoprotein testing, to better decipher the details in the fat-carrying particles in the bloodstream. I folded in new insights into such factors as vitamin D. Over many years, I learned several critical lessons:
>>
>> Having an omega-3 fatty acid RBC blood level of 10% or greater contributed to slowing. In other words, of all the fatty acids in red blood cells, RBCs, 10% or more had to be from the EPA and DHA of fish oil. This was achieved with EPA + DHA daily intakes of 3000-3600 mg per day from fish oil (only).
>> Vitamin D–Vitamin D, when added to the mix of strategies I was using, yielded shocking effects. Before vitamin D, the majority of people only managed to slow the growth of their calcium scores. Adding vitamin D in oil-based gelcap form as cholecalciferol (not ergocalciferol, the prescription form) didn’t just slow it down; it actually reduced scores, often dramatically. I watched, for example, a score of 600 become a score of 300 a year later. This proved fairly consistent. Of course, vitamin D also proved to be so powerful in many other facets of health, as well.
>> Small LDL particles that are oxidation-prone and persist in the bloodstream up to 7-times longer than large LDL particles were eliminated in the majority of people by eliminating wheat, grains, and sugars. This mean, for instance, that someone with a total LDL particle number (by NMR) of 2000 nmol/L, a virtual count of LDL particles in the bloodstream, of which 1400 nmol/L were small particles, would eliminate wheat, grains, and sugars and drop small LDL particles to zero, total LDL particle number to 600 nmol/L: 2000 -1400 = 600 nmol/L. An LDL particle number of 600 nmol/L is equivalent to an LDL cholesterol value of 60 mg/dl (drop the last digit from LDL particle number)–a spectacularly low value achieved without statin drugs. Over time, it became clearer and clearer: the majority of people did not need statin drugs and achieved values better than that on the drugs.
>> Thyroid status needed to be perfect–Even a marginal degree of hypothyroidism (low thyroid function responsible for low energy, weight gain or failure to lose weight, inappropriately cold hands and feet) could trigger extravagant increases in calcium scores. And hypothyroidism was incredibly common, easily affecting 30% of the people I saw. It meant addressing iodine and aiming for a TSH no higher than 1.5 mIU/L and free T4 and free T3 in the upper half of the reference range, along with absence of any symptoms of hypothyroidism.
>> Blood sugar needed to be in a truly normal range–This meant fasting blood sugars of no higher than 100 mg/dl, preferably 90 mg/dl or lower, and hemoglobin A1c, HbA1c, had to be 5.0% or less. In other words, you had to reverse pre-diabetes or diabetes to gain control over coronary plaque growth.
>> Efforts to cultivate healthy bowel flora were necessary–This most recent lesson added even greater advantage to control over calcium scores, as well as overall health and metabolic markers.
>> There were some additional lessons learned along the way that applied to selected groups of people, such as the efforts targeting the genetic pattern, lipoprotein(a); the contribution of phytosterols/sitosterol to heart disease; dietary manipulations to accommodate specific genetic variants such as apoprotein E2 and abnormal postprandial (after-meal) processing of lipoproteins, etc. But, for the majority, the menu proved incredibly simple and straightforward, and most people following this program stopped the growth of their coronary atherosclerotic plaque/calcium scores altogether, many enjoying dramatic drops in scores, something my colleagues declare is impossible even today. And I stopped seeing heart attacks, heart symptoms, need for heart catheterizations, stents, and bypass surgery–coronary disease essentially came to a halt. Though my background was in heart procedures, I stopped doing them . . . because nobody needed them any longer. Five, six, seven, or eight procedures
>per day fell to zero. (You can also appreciate the indifference from my colleagues and hospitals, also, as their primary source of income is from heart procedures.)
>>
>> Of course, as I introduced these strategies, I also watched people lose extraordinary amounts of weight, look and feel better, reverse diabetes, reverse autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, reverse skin rashes like eczema and psoriasis, obtain freedom from acid reflux and irritable bowel symptoms, improve their emotional health, enjoy better sleep, reverse depression, obtain relief from migraine headaches, etc.–all the lessons I now talk about in Wheat Belly conversations. But, with the flood of wonderful experiences that continue to come into the Wheat Belly Facebook page, the Wheat Belly Blog, and elsewhere, it is sometimes easy to forget: this whole collection of life- and health-changing revelations began with efforts to stamp out heart attacks and coronary heart disease . . . and it works. It works big time. And it’s incredibly easy, while providing an astounding range of improvements in overall health.
>>
>> *The EBT device has now been supplanted by a newer type of CT scanner, the multi-detector CT, MDCT, device. So for anyone looking for a heart scan to obtain a calcium score, the majority of imaging centers now have the newer devices. Also, anyone interested in how to apply advanced lipoprotein analysis, see the chapter on metabolic health in Wheat Belly Total Health.
>>
>> Related
>> Why calcium supplements are unnecessary on the Wheat Belly lifestyle
>> April 11, 2016
>>
>> https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2012/12/wheat-belly-quick-dirty-2/
>>
>> Wheat Belly: Quick & Dirty 2
>> by Dr. Davis | Dec 5, 2012 | Diet and Lifestyle | 511 comments
>>
>> In view of the many new readers on the Wheat Belly Blog, many of whom have not yet had an opportunity to read the book but are eager to get started, here is the updated Wheat Belly Quick & Dirty summary. It summarizes the essential dietary strategies of the Wheat Belly approach to 1) avoid all products made from high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat that wreak health destruction, and 2) create a diet that is otherwise healthy and appropriate for all members of the family.
>>
>> This is the same diet I advise patients in my office to follow that achieves spectacular reductions in weight, provides relief from joint pain and acid reflux, reduces triglycerides, shoots HDL upward, reduces small LDL particles (the #1 cause of heart disease in the U.S!), and unravels diabetic/pre-diabetic tendencies. The diet starts with the biggest step of all: elimination of wheat and other closely related grains (rye, barley, corn, oats, rice, millet, amaranth, bulgur). But a healthy diet cannot end there, else you and I could eat no wheat but fill our calories with soft drinks and jelly beans. So the next step is to limit carbohydrates if your goal is to lose more weight and correct metabolic distortions like high blood sugar and small LDL particles. Then, we choose our foods wisely to avoid the common boobytraps set for us by Big Food and Agribusiness, not to mention the friendly dietitian at the hospital! Diet in the 21st century is no longer just about carbs, proteins,
>and fats–it is also about being savvy about the changes introduced into our foods by food producers.
>>
>> Eliminate:
>> All wheat-based products (all breads, all breakfast cereals, noodles, pasta, bagels, muffins, pancakes, waffles, donuts, pretzels, crackers), oat products (oatmeal, oat bran), corn and cornstarch-based products (sauces or gravies thickened with cornstarch, prepared or processed foods containing cornstarch, cornmeal products like chips, tacos, tortillas), sugary soft drinks, candies.
>>
>> Avoid processed foods containing wheat, such as soy sauce, Twizzlers, Campbells Tomato Soup, salad dressings, taco seasoning–examine ALL labels and avoid any food with mention of wheat. (It’s not a bad idea to avoid foods with labels! Cucumbers and spinach, for instance, generally don’t come with labels.)
>>
>> All other grain-containing products–especially those with corn, rye, barley, and rice. Corn, like wheat, is contained in many processed foods.
>>
>> Enjoy:
>> Vegetables-except potatoes; fresh or frozen, never canned
>> Raw nuts and seeds-raw almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamians; dry-roasted peanuts (not roasted in oil); pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, and chia seeds
>> Healthy oils (preferably unheated, whenever possible)-olive, flaxseed, coconut, avocado, walnut
>> Meats-red meats, pork, fish, chicken, turkey, eggs. (Consider free-range, grass-fed and/or organic sources.) Eat the fat!
>> Ground flaxseed, chia seeds
>> Teas, coffee, water, unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk or coconut water
>> Cheeses—real cultured cheeses only (not Velveeta or single-slice processed cheese)
>> Avocado or guacamole; hummus; unsweetened condiments, e.g., mayonnaise, mustard, oil-based salad dressings; ketchup without high-fructose corn syrup; pesto, tapenades; olives
>>
>> Limited:
>> Fruit-No more than 2 servings a day (one serving is a level handful), preferably in this order (best first): berries of all varieties, citrus, apples, nectarines, peaches, melons. Minimize bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and grapes and only in the smallest of quantities (since they are like candy in sugar content)
>> Fruit juices-only real juices and in minimal quantities (no more than 2-4 oz)
>> Dairy products-No more than 1 serving per day of milk, cottage cheese or yogurt, unsweetened (Fat content does not matter.)
>> Legumes/beans; peas; sweet potatoes and yams
>> Dark chocolates-70-85% cocoa or greater; no more than 40 grams (approximately 2 inches square) per day
>> Sugar-free foods–preferably stevia-containing, rather than aspartame; other safe sweeteners include monk fruit, erythritol, xylitol, and inulin
>>
>> Never:
>> ”Gluten-free” foods made with rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, or potato starch
>> Fried foods
>> Fast foods
>> Hydrogenated “trans” fats
>> Cured meats–hot dogs, sausages, bacon, bologna, pepperoni “fixed” with sodium nitrite
>> High-fructose corn syrup containing foods; honey; agave syrup; sucrose
>> Processed rice, rice flour or potato products-rice crackers, rice cereals, pretzels, white breads, breakfast cereals, potato chips
>> Fat-free or low-fat salad dressings
>>
>> Quick tips:
>> For healthy breakfast choices, consider unlimited eggs, any style; foods baked from Wheat Belly recipes, such as pancakes, grainless “granola”; ground flaxseed as a hot cereal (e.g., with coconut milk, organic milk, or unsweetened almond milk; blueberries, strawberries, etc.). Also consider raw nuts; cheese; consider having “dinner for breakfast,” meaning transferring salads, cheese, chicken, and other “dinner” foods to breakfast.
>> Add 1 tablespoon or more of taste-compatible healthy oil to every meal. For example, mix in 1 tbsp coconut oil to ground flaxseed hot cereal. Or add 2 tbsp olive oil to eggs after scrambling. Adding oils will blunt appetite. Do not trim the fat off meat and purchase fattier cuts. Cook with (organic) butter, coconut oil, lard, tallow (non-hydrogenated, if purchased).
>> Reach for raw nuts and 85% cocoa dark chocolate first as convenient snacks.
>> Use the recipes in the Wheat Belly Blog, books, and cookbooks whenever cravings hit: cookies, muffins, brownies, coffee cake, cheesecake from the recipes can quell appetite with no downside.
>>
>> Related
>> Wheat Belly: Quick and Dirty #3
>> September 28, 2017
>> In "Diet and Lifestyle"
>
>Thank you that was quite revealing and surprising.
>
>Tough choice; death or life without pasta.
>I'll think about it. Maybe.

On Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 2:49:13 PM UTC-6, AMuzi wrote:
[deleted]
> Thank you that was quite revealing and surprising.
>
> Tough choice; death or life without pasta.
> I'll think about it. Maybe.
> --
> Andrew Muzi
> a...@yellowjersey.org
> Open every day since 1 April, 1971

https://www.everythingzoomer.com/health/2017/07/18/recipe-all-purpose-baking-mix/

At least reduce bread and potato consumption to see if it helps.
I haven't completely eliminated them, so not loosing weight from 325 pounds, 5 ft 10.
But I have reduced my HgA1C from pre-diabetic to normal,
stopped electric shocks from Fibromyalgia,
stopped taking low dose BP meds due to lowered blood pressure.
stopped gout attacks after several years on crutches (stopping fructose, processed foods).

On 11/21/2023 5:24 PM, Mike A Schwab wrote:
> On Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 2:49:13 PM UTC-6, AMuzi wrote:
> [deleted]
>> Thank you that was quite revealing and surprising.
>>
>> Tough choice; death or life without pasta.
>> I'll think about it. Maybe.

> https://www.everythingzoomer.com/health/2017/07/18/recipe-all-purpose-baking-mix/
>
> At least reduce bread and potato consumption to see if it helps.
> I haven't completely eliminated them, so not loosing weight from 325 pounds, 5 ft 10.
> But I have reduced my HgA1C from pre-diabetic to normal,
> stopped electric shocks from Fibromyalgia,
> stopped taking low dose BP meds due to lowered blood pressure.
> stopped gout attacks after several years on crutches (stopping fructose, processed foods).

> "to see if it helps."
Helps what? I don't have a problem to ameliorate so far as I
know.

Then again people do 'just drop dead' as recently happened
to an old friend.

--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 11/21/2023 6:31 PM, AMuzi wrote:
>
>>  "to see if it helps."
> Helps what? I don't have a problem to ameliorate so far as I know.
>
> Then again people do 'just drop dead' as recently happened to an old
> friend.

I've had a few friends to whom that happened. The best was a guy in
perfect health who went to sleep and never awoke, due to a massive stroke.

As one character in a movie proclaimed, "Lucky bastard."

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 5:31:33 PM UTC-6, AMuzi wrote:
>
>
> > "to see if it helps."
> Helps what? I don't have a problem to ameliorate so far as I
> know.
>
> Then again people do 'just drop dead' as recently happened
> to an old friend.
> --

To see if you experience increase ability to work without sweating because the plaque is reduced?